Kalshi Investigates Pre-Announcement Bets on Trump’s Appointment of White House Press Secretary

Huo Xing Cai Jing reports, according to The Block citing The Wall Street Journal, that the prediction market platform Kalshi is investigating several trades that correctly bet on Donald Trump appointing Katie Zacharia as White House Press Secretary prior to the announcement. Trump confirmed the appointment on Truth Social Friday afternoon, with Zacharia succeeding Karoline Leavitt. At least three bets, totaling approximately $173, were placed before the media reported the candidate’s name; these are expected to result in combined payouts of about $9,600 after market settlement. One bet of approximately $19 was placed at 10:42 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday and is expected to pay out $1,896; two additional bets of approximately $74 and $80 were placed at 1:41 p.m. Friday and are expected to pay out $3,689 and $4,023 respectively. The report notes that days before the announcement, traders on Kalshi assigned Zacharia only about a 1% probability of being appointed. This investigation follows a settlement reached in August by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission with a former White House teleprompter operator who traded on Kalshi markets related to Trump’s speeches.