A former White House teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, has been ordered to pay more than $172,000 after using confidential information about President Donald Trump’s speeches to place bets on a prediction market.
Perez made trades on Kalshi, a platform that allows users to bet on real-world events, based on what Trump was expected to say during presidential addresses between December 2025 and February 2026.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Perez had made $107,539 in profits from the trades. Under a settlement announced on Friday, he must surrender those profits and pay an additional $65,000 civil penalty.
The regulator said Perez had misused his advance knowledge of Trump’s speeches to place bets, breaching his duty of trust and confidence as a White House employee.
His penalty was reduced because of what the CFTC described as his “exemplary co-operation” with the investigation. Perez has also been banned from trading for three years.
The White House has not commented on the settlement. However, former press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in July that Perez had been placed on unpaid leave and would not return to his position.
Kalshi previously said its analysts noticed unusual betting activity on “mention markets”, where users predict whether public figures will say particular words, countries or slogans.
The company said it used account information to identify the trader as a federal employee operating White House teleprompters and reported the activity to the regulator.
Kalshi’s lead lawyer, Bobby DeNault, welcomed the CFTC’s decision, saying that anyone who violated the platform’s rules or federal law would face consequences.
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The case has raised concerns about the use of inside information on prediction markets, particularly when the information comes from senior political figures whose words can affect financial markets.
The White House Management Office had also warned administration officials in July against placing bets on prediction markets, according to US media reports.
The CFTC said the settlement was intended to address Perez’s misuse of confidential information and reinforce restrictions against using government access for personal financial gain.
(BBC News)
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