A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay over $172,000 for using inside information to bet on President Donald Trump's speeches. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the regulator for the prediction markets platform Kalshi, announced the settlement on Friday.
Gabriel Perez was found to have made trades on what the president would say during addresses between December 2025 and February 2026. He will surrender profits of $107,539.02 and pay a civil penalty of $65,000. The CFTC stated that Perez had "misappropriated" his prior knowledge of Trump's speeches, violating his duty of trust and confidence. His civil penalty was reduced due to his "exemplary co-operation" with the investigation.
As part of the settlement, Perez has also been banned from trading for three years. The White House had not commented on the matter as of Friday. In July, then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt had stated that Perez was on unpaid leave and would not return to his post.
Kalshi's lead lawyer, Bobby DeNault, welcomed the decision, stating, "It doesn't matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences." The platform had previously alerted regulators after its analysts noticed unusual betting activity on "mention markets" – contracts where users predict if a speaker will use specific terms, campaign slogans, or words.
Kalshi used account data to identify the user as a federal employee operating White House teleprompters and reported the activity to the CFTC. The company noted in July that "the words of political leaders like Presidents and Fed chairs cause billions of dollars of movement in FX markets, oil futures, [and] the stock market."
In the same month, the White House Management Office sent a letter to aides advising them against placing bets on prediction markets, according to administration officials.