George Santos was fined for trading a contract on whether he would show up

Release 9276-26, dated 31 July 2026, orders former congressman George Santos to disgorge $17,569.98 and pay a $17,500 civil penalty, with a three-year trading ban and a cease-and-desist order.

Between 12 and 25 February 2026 he traded a "Who will attend the State of the Union?" contract on his own attendance, and, in the Commission’s words, made "a series of material misrepresentations and omissions about whether he would attend the SOTU" — statements the CFTC found moved the contract price in favour of his positions.

This is not insider trading in the ordinary sense. Santos did not learn something private about the world; he was the thing the contract settled on, and he could both move the price and determine the outcome.

A contract written on one identifiable person’s future conduct hands that person a position no other participant can hold. The information asymmetry is total and permanent, and no amount of surveillance closes it — the only defences are the rule against manipulation, applied after the fact, as here.

When a market settles on the choice of a named individual, ask whether that individual can trade it. Where the answer is yes and nothing stops them, the price carries a risk that has nothing to do with your read of the event.

The enforcement action arrived roughly five months after the trades. That is the timescale on which this protection operates, and it is not fast enough to help anyone who was on the other side.