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Utah files 14 criminal charges against Kalshi and its founders in 2026

Published 2026-10-29By the CryptoGuardz Register Desk3 min read7 sources

Photo: Dennis Zhang / Unsplash

In short, from the documents

Utah criminal charges against Kalshi and its founders

The Utah Attorney General's Office filed a 14-count criminal information against KalshiEX LLC, CEO Tarek Mansour and COO Luana Lopes Lara on 28 October 2026. The counts rest on 12 sports wagers an undercover state agent placed from Utah in September, and they are allegations a court has not tested.

Piece published 2026-10-29Reviewed by CryptoGuardz Register Desk, editorial desk

The Utah Attorney General's Office filed 14 criminal counts in a filing dated 28 October 2026 that names KalshiEX LLC as defendant and its chief executive Tarek Mansour and chief operating officer Luana Lopes Lara, both co-founders, as co-defendants. The counts rest on 12 wagers on sports that an undercover state agent placed on Kalshi from Utah between 13 and 24 September 2026. These are allegations. No court has ruled on them.

The filing is a co-defendant information with a summons, in the Third Judicial District Court, Salt Lake Department, in Salt Lake County. It lists one second-degree felony for a pattern of unlawful activity, 12 third-degree felonies for online gambling promotion and one class A misdemeanor for general gambling promotion. The case number and judge fields are blank on the copy read for this piece.

What the document says

The probable cause declaration, signed by Special Agent Scott Eggerman, describes each wager, the fee Kalshi charged and the result. The first one reads:

Kalshi allowed Agent Eggerman to place a $10.00 wager that the Dallas Cowboys would win the football game.

Declaration of Probable Cause, State of Utah v. KalshiEX LLC, retrieved 2026-10-29

Quote from Utah's probable cause declaration: Kalshi allowed Agent Eggerman to place a $10.00 wager that the Dallas Cowboys would win the football game. — Each of the 12 wagers in the declaration is described this way, with the fee Kalshi charged. Graphic: CryptoGuardz, from the sources cited below, CC BY 4.0

The declaration says the platform showed a 34% chance of a payout on that wager, that Kalshi charged a transaction fee of $0.44, and that the agent lost $9.99. A $30.00 wager on a Utah Mammoth hockey game carried a fee of $0.70. The state's theory is that each fee is proceeds of unlawful gambling promotion, and the declaration ties the founders to the conduct by citing public recordings in which, it says, they describe substantial, direct control over Kalshi's operations.

The declaration also says the agent checked that his geolocation was in Utah before each of the 12 wagers, and that Kalshi asked him to confirm it through location services before the first one.

Kalshi called the case "a crazy overreach; Utah is clearly playing politics," in a statement reported by the Deseret News. Attorney General Derek Brown said in a statement reported by FOX 13 News: "Gambling is illegal in Utah, whether you place the bet, run the game, or promote it."

What it changes for users

The charges name the company and two executives. No Kalshi customer is charged in the filing.
The filing asks for no freeze of customer accounts, and none is mentioned in it.
FOX 13 News reports that the two founders were issued summonses. Neither its report nor the filing gives a court date.
Whether Kalshi still accepts sports trades from Utah was not verified for this piece.
The criminal case runs alongside Utah's civil suit against Kalshi, filed on 20 October according to The Block, and the CFTC's suit against Utah, announced on 27 October.

Background

The declaration recounts that Kalshi sued Utah Governor Spencer Cox on 23 February 2026, that Judge Robert Shelby ruled on 4 August 2026 that federal commodities law does not preempt Utah's gambling laws, and that the Tenth Circuit denied an injunction pending appeal on 8 September 2026. The undercover wagers began five days later.

Timeline: Kalshi sued Utah's governor on 23 February 2026, lost a preemption ruling on 4 August and an appeal injunction on 8 September, an agent placed 12 wagers from 13 to 24 September, Utah sued on 20 October and filed criminal counts on 28 October. — The undercover wagers began five days after the Tenth Circuit denied Kalshi an injunction. Graphic: CryptoGuardz, from the sources cited below, CC BY 4.0

Utah is not the first state to bring criminal charges. Arizona filed 20 counts against Kalshi in March 2026, according to CBS News. Earlier coverage here: Utah sues Kalshi, the CFTC's suit against Utah and is Kalshi legal in Utah.

Quick answers

What is Kalshi charged with in Utah?

Fourteen counts: one second-degree felony for a pattern of unlawful activity, 12 third-degree felonies for online gambling promotion and one class A misdemeanor. They are allegations in a filing dated 28 October 2026.

Are Kalshi users in Utah charged?

No user is named in the filing. It charges KalshiEX LLC, Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara.

What evidence does Utah cite?

Twelve wagers an undercover agent placed from Salt Lake and Davis counties between 13 and 24 September 2026, with the fee Kalshi charged on each, as set out in the agent's declaration.

Call 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537). The National Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), with call, text and chat. More options are on the responsible gambling page.

More analysis

2026-10-27Is Kalshi legal in California? What Kalshi's terms, California law and the Ninth Circuit sayKalshi's Member Agreement, read on 27 October 2026, names no US state as a restricted jurisdiction, so it accepts California users. California has not sued Kalshi, but its Attorney General has joined at least seven multistate briefs against it, and on 16 September 2026 the Ninth Circuit held two California tribes are likely to win their claim that Kalshi's sports contracts on tribal lands are illegal gaming.2026-10-27Is Kalshi legal in Florida? What Kalshi's terms, Florida law and the state regulator sayKalshi's Member Agreement, read on 27 October 2026, names no US state as restricted, so it accepts Florida users. Florida Statutes section 849.14 makes betting on a contest a third-degree felony, and the Florida Gaming Control Commission says online sports wagers outside the Seminole Tribe are most likely illegal. No Florida cease-and-desist or lawsuit against Kalshi was found, and Florida did not sign the states' Supreme Court brief of 7 October 2026.2026-10-27Is Kalshi legal in Georgia? What Kalshi's terms, Georgia gambling law and the Columbus federal case sayKalshi's Member Agreement, read on 27 October 2026, names no US state as restricted, so it accepts Georgia users. Georgia has no law authorising sports betting and no state action against Kalshi was found, but a private suit in federal court in Columbus seeks to recover users' losses under Georgia's gambling-contract statute, and the judge kept it in federal court on 2 February 2026.2026-10-27Is Kalshi legal in my state? All 50 states and DC, from Kalshi's terms and each state's own documentsSection VI of Kalshi's Member Agreement, read on 27 October 2026, names no US state as a restricted jurisdiction. At least seventeen states have sent Kalshi a cease-and-desist letter, sued it or charged it, and courts in Nevada, Michigan and Washington have ordered it to stop offering sports contracts there.2026-10-27Is Kalshi legal in Nevada? The state court injunction, the Ninth Circuit ruling and what Kalshi's terms sayA Nevada state court has barred Kalshi from offering sports, election and entertainment event contracts in Nevada since a temporary restraining order of 20 March 2026, and the Ninth Circuit ruled 3-0 for Nevada on 28 August 2026. Kalshi asked for rehearing en banc on 9 September 2026. Its Member Agreement names no US state as restricted.2026-10-27Is Kalshi legal in New York? The Gaming Commission order, the Attorney General's lawsuit and the Second Circuit appealNew York's Gaming Commission ordered Kalshi to cease and desist on 24 October 2025, a federal judge denied Kalshi an injunction against the state on 7 July 2026, and the Attorney General sued Kalshi in state court on 31 July 2026. Kalshi's appeal, Second Circuit No. 26-1835, was in briefing with New York's brief due 30 October 2026, and its Member Agreement names no US state as restricted.

Sources

About this piece

Compiled by the CryptoGuardz register team from the sources listed above. Research and drafting are AI-assisted and reviewed by a named editor before publication. Nothing here is a recommendation to gamble. If a figure or a reading is wrong, tell us and the correction is logged in public.

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