A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay more than USD 172,000 after using inside information about US President Donald Trump’s speeches to place bets on a prediction market, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Gabriel Perez was found to have used advance knowledge of Trump’s remarks to make trades on Kalshi, a prediction markets platform, between December 2025 and February 2026.
The CFTC said Perez must surrender USD 107,539.02 in profits and pay a civil penalty of USD 65,000. He has also been barred from trading for three years.
According to the regulator, Perez “misappropriated” information about Trump’s speeches in breach of his duty of trust and confidence. The penalty was reduced in recognition of his “exemplary co-operation” with the investigation.
Kalshi’s lead lawyer Bobby DeNault welcomed the settlement, saying on X that violations of the platform’s rules or federal law would have consequences.
Kalshi had earlier alerted the regulator after its analysts detected unusual betting activity on markets predicting whether specific words or phrases would be mentioned in speeches. The company said account information indicated that the trader was a federal employee operating White House teleprompters.
The White House has not commented on the matter. Perez was placed on unpaid leave in July and was not expected to return to his position, according to former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
