A prediction market is accusing someone in MrBeast's inner circle of trying to cash in on insider information. Kalshi said Wednesday it has suspended Artem Kaptur, an editor on the YouTube star's videos, after finding what it called "near-perfect" success on roughly $4,000 worth of bets tied to MrBeast content—wins the company says likely came from access to nonpublic information. NPR reports that Kalshi froze Kaptur's account so profits couldn't be pulled, fined him $20,000, and banned him for two years, while also flagging the case to federal regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
MrBeast's company says it bars employees from betting on MrBeast-related markets and has "no tolerance" for insider trading. Kalshi also disclosed a separate case involving former longshot California GOP gubernatorial candidate Kyle Langford, who publicly boasted about wagering on himself; he was fined $1,000 and banned for five years. The Wall Street Journal explains that under Kalshi's rules, candidates can't bet on their own election as they can directly impact its outcome. The cases mark the first to be publicly disclosed by Kalshi, which said that of the 200 investigations it has opened in the past year, more than a dozen have turned into active cases.