by Warren Petersen | Jun 18, 2026 | Opinion
By Sen. Warren Petersen |
Earlier this spring, a federal judge in Phoenix had to step in and protect law-abiding Americans from a prosecutor who had lost all sense of limits. He struck down Kris Mayes’s case against the prediction market Kalshi and, in doing so, exposed one of the more reckless abuses of government power our state has seen in recent memory.
The story should alarm every Arizonan, regardless of whether you have ever placed a trade. In March, Mayes made Arizona the first state in the nation to bring criminal charges against a federally regulated exchange—twenty counts against an American company operating under the direct supervision of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission. And she didn’t stop at the criminal docket, either; her allies in the state government pressed a parallel civil campaign to choke an American innovator out of existence.
It took a respected federal judge, appointed by President Trump, to end the spectacle. In finding that federal law leaves “no room for state regulation” of these markets, he warned against precisely the “inconsistent regulatory patchwork that Congress intended to avoid,” and that Mayes tried to foist on Arizonans. Mayes’s crusade was doomed from the start, and any honest lawyer in her office could have told her so. Instead, she torched your tax dollars and Arizona’s reputation, all to chase a headline.
This is what the weaponization of a prosecutor’s office looks like. We have watched the radical left turn the law into a club against the people they dislike: parents, police, people of faith, and President Trump himself. Mayes has now turned that club on the future. Prediction markets let ordinary citizens put their own judgment, and their own money, behind what they actually believe will happen in the economy and the world. They cut through the noise of the mainstream media and pundit class, and they are one piece of a sweeping wave of financial innovation that is remaking the global economy in real time.
President Trump understands this in his bones. While Mayes was busy criminalizing the future, the President was busy building it. His CFTC Chairman, Michael Selig, has led the charge, defending federal authority in courtrooms across the country, advancing clear and sensible national rules, and declaring that America’s financial markets are ready for a new Golden Age. The President has been emphatic that the CFTC must retain exclusive authority over these markets, and he is right. That is America First leadership: clear rules, room to grow, and the confidence that fifty different prosecutors won’t be allowed to strangle American innovation in its crib.
Arizona ought to be racing to the front of that parade. Instead, our Democratic officials keep stomping on the brakes. I led the fight to make Arizona the first state in the country with a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, only for Governor Katie Hobbs to veto it. I pushed to let Arizonans pay their taxes in digital currency. Again and again, the message from this state’s Democrats has been the same: if you dare to build something new, we will tax it, ban it, or drag you into court. Innovators don’t flee to Texas and Florida by accident. They flee politicians who treat builders like criminals.
I have spent fourteen years at the Capitol doing the opposite—defending the Constitution, guarding taxpayers, and standing up for the right to build without first begging permission from the government. As your attorney general, I will never turn the power of that office into a weapon against a company for the crime of innovating. I will use it to defend Arizonans, to enforce the law as it is actually written, and to show Washington’s worst instincts, and our own state’s, exactly where the line is drawn.
This task is too important to leave to my opponent in the Republican primary. Rodney Glassman didn’t merely vote for Democrats, he ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat at the request of another liberal Democratic attorney general, Terry Goddard. So, ask yourself: when the radical left comes for innovation, for crypto, for free markets—and they will come—who do you want holding the line? A proven conservative who has already taken the arrows, or a man who spent the prime of his career carrying the other team’s banner and discovered his “convictions” only when trying to grab President Trump’s coattails?
The attorney general’s job is not to chase headlines by prosecuting the future. It is to be the wall that protects the rights, the savings, and the freedom of Arizonans. Kris Mayes tore that wall down. I intend to rebuild it.
President Trump is leading America into a Golden Age of growth, opportunity, and renewed confidence. Arizona belongs at the front of that charge, but is instead being dragged from behind, handing out indictments to the people who create our jobs. Give me the honor of serving as your attorney general, and I’ll make sure that our great state is exactly where it should be.
Warren Petersen is the President of the Arizona State Senate and represents Legislative District 14. He is currently running to be Arizona’s next Attorney General.
by Ethan Faverino | Dec 18, 2025 | News
By Ethan Faverino |
U.S. Representative Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ-08) has sent a sharply worded letter to the Acting Chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Caroline D. Pham, seeking answers and potential regulatory action regarding the newly announced partnership between prediction-market platform Kalshi and CNN.
In the letter, Congressman Hamadeh warns that the collaboration “poses direct and foreseeable threats to market integrity, democratic stability, and American national security,” arguing that it creates an unprecedented structural conflict of interest by allowing a major news organization to both report on and financially benefit from high-stakes geopolitical events.
“CNN would be uniquely positioned to shape public perception and news cycles around the very events Kalshi lists as tradable markets,” said Congressman Hamadeh. “These events would involve elections, war, foreign policy crises, and domestic instability. No other major media outlet has attempted such a partnership, and for good reason: it creates a built-in structural conflict of interest that allows an influential news organization or foreign adversaries to shape outcomes for financial or competitive advantage.”
The congressman highlighted Kalshi’s existing controversial markets, including contracts that reportedly allowed trading on whether Palestinians in Gaza would suffer mass starvation or when Israel might conduct military actions in Gaza or the West Bank—markets he described as “chilling.”
Specifically, the congressman posed four questions to the CFTC:
- What actions is the Commission taking to review the CNN-Kalshi partnership under Section 5c(c)(5)(C), with respect to informational conflicts of interest and event manipulation?
- Is the CFTC assessing whether the partnership creates vulnerabilities for foreign or domestic actors to influence U.S. politics, economics, or national security for financial profit?
- Has the Commission evaluated whether CNN’s editorial influence, combined with Kalshi’s event contracts, renders these markets “contrary to the public interest?”
- What steps will the CFTC require to ensure robust compliance controls, including editorial firewalls, conflict-of-interest disclosures, and foreign-influence screening?
Hamadeh gave Acting Chairwoman Pham 30 days to provide a detailed written response outlining the Commission’s assessment and planned actions.
“My constituents have raised alarm bells about a media company with a long-documented record of partisan manipulation now positioning itself to influence and profit from geopolitical events in real time,” stated Hamadeh. “This partnership is not merely inappropriate; it is outright dangerous.”
He concluded, “The CFTC’s mission is to safeguard the integrity of U.S. markets, and allowing CNN, a network already viewed by many Americans as a propagandistic actor, to operate inside a live prediction market creates unacceptable national-security and governance vulnerabilities.”
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Jonathan Eberle | Oct 29, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has entered a final judgment against Safeguard Metals LLC and its owner, Jeffrey Ikahn, for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that preyed on elderly and retirement-aged investors across the country.
The ruling orders approximately $25.6 million in restitution to victims and an equal civil monetary penalty, totaling more than $51 million in sanctions. The decision follows a coordinated enforcement effort between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC) and 30 state regulators, including Arizona.
According to court findings, Safeguard Metals and Ikahn operated a deceptive precious metals investment scheme between October 2017 and July 2021, soliciting roughly $68 million—primarily from retirement accounts—belonging to at least 450 individuals. The company promised secure investments in silver and other metals but instead misled investors with false information and inflated pricing on the metals sold.
Investigators found that the firm concealed material facts, manipulated sales tactics, and grossly overcharged customers for products that were worth far less than claimed. Much of the money lost came from seniors’ life savings and retirement accounts.
“The court’s final judgment in this matter provides meaningful restitution to investors harmed by this fraudulent action and it reinforces that the Arizona Corporation Commission will take decisive action to protect investors, especially those in vulnerable communities,” said ACC Chair Kevin Thompson. “I want to thank the CFTC and the state regulators for their dedication and hard work.”
Thompson added that the case serves as a reminder of the essential role state regulators play in detecting and halting investment fraud. “This outcome is an important reminder that state securities regulators play a critical role in fighting investment fraud in all forms,” he said.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also pursued a parallel enforcement action in 2022 against Safeguard Metals and Ikahn. Earlier this year, the court ordered the defendants to pay $25.6 million in disgorgement and an equal civil penalty, mirroring the CFTC and state regulators’ ruling. Any funds paid under one judgment will be credited toward the other to prevent duplication.
The sweeping case reflects cooperation among financial regulators from 30 states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas, as well as the CFTC’s national enforcement network.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
