Utah filed 14 criminal charges against KalshiEx LLC and its co-founders, Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, on Oct. 29, escalating the state's fight with the prediction-market operator from civil litigation to criminal allegations. The case includes one second-degree felony, 12 third-degree felony counts and one misdemeanor alleging unlawful gambling promotion, according to the Associated Press.
Utah’s 14 charges target Kalshi and both co-founders
The charges name KalshiEx, Mansour and Lopes Lara. Utah’s action marks a sharper legal step against a company whose sports-event contracts have been at the center of a dispute over whether state gambling restrictions can be enforced against federally regulated prediction markets.
Prosecutors allege unlawful gambling promotion. The reported charge breakdown comprises a single second-degree felony, 12 third-degree felonies and one misdemeanor; the supplied reporting does not specify how the counts are allocated among the company and its two founders.
Undercover wagers form the basis of the allegations
The allegations stem from transactions made by an undercover investigator, according to reporting by ABC4 Utah. Prosecutors said the investigator placed 12 wagers on sports events through Kalshi while using Utah residential and IP information.
The charges further allege that Kalshi collected fees from those transactions. Those claimed wagers provide the Utah-specific conduct underpinning the state’s criminal case.
Federal court ruling left Utah free to enforce its gambling laws
The criminal filing follows an Aug. 4 federal court ruling that favored Utah in its earlier dispute with Kalshi. A federal judge ruled that Utah’s anti-gambling laws apply to Kalshi’s sports contracts and that federal commodities law does not preempt the state’s enforcement authority, according to the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
That ruling left the state able to apply its gambling laws to the contracts at issue, setting the legal backdrop for the charges filed this week.
