Kalshi probes $173 in pre-announcement bets on Trump press secretary pick

Prediction market operator Kalshi is investigating three wagers totaling about $173 that correctly anticipated President Donald Trump's selection of conservative commentator Katie Zacharia as his next White House press secretary, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The positions are slated to pay out roughly $9,600 combined once the market settles.

What bets landed before the news?

The New York Times and other outlets began reporting Zacharia's selection around 2 p.m. ET. Journal analysis of publicly available Kalshi data shows at least three positions preceded that window. A $19 bet went in at 10:42 p.m. ET on Thursday and will pay out $1,896. Two further wagers — about $74 and $80 — appeared around 1:41 p.m. Friday, carrying expected payouts of $3,689 and $4,023.

Kalshi traders had priced Zacharia at roughly 1% odds in the days before the announcement. Trump confirmed the appointment in a Truth Social post Friday afternoon, naming Zacharia to succeed Karoline Leavitt. "I am confident that Katie will deliver strong results for our Country," Trump wrote.

Who is the nominee?

Zacharia serves as a senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs Truth Social, and previously held roles as spokesperson and deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, according to Trump's post.

What is Kalshi doing?

A company spokesperson confirmed the probe to the Journal and declined further comment. Kalshi trades remain anonymous to the public, but the platform keeps records tying accounts to verified identities. The White House did not return the Journal's request for comment, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission declined to respond before publication.

Where does this fit in the insider-trading sweep?

The case lands inside an active enforcement window. In August, former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez agreed to repay $107,539 in profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty to settle CFTC charges that he traded Kalshi mention markets after reading Trump's prepared remarks. The CFTC credited Kalshi with assisting in the case. Kalshi also banned former Rep. George Santos on Aug. 31 and fined him just over $71,000 over trades tied to his State of the Union attendance; Santos had agreed in July to pay $35,000 to settle the CFTC's parallel action without admitting or denying its findings.

Kalshi tightened onboarding in June, requiring traders to disclose employers before placing orders in markets it flags for elevated insider-trading or manipulation risk. The company said it had made more than 20 law enforcement referrals and opened more than 150 investigations in the first quarter alone.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer opened a separate probe in May into insider trading on Kalshi and Polymarket, requesting documents on identity verification and unusual-trade detection. The White House previously circulated a memo urging staff not to profit from nonpublic information after a string of bets timed to the Iran conflict, the Journal reported.

Kalshi has yet to disclose a timeline for resolving the Zacharia trades, leaving the investigation's outcome — referral to the CFTC, account suspension or a quiet close-out — as the next signal of how the platform will police itself under federal oversight.