Former Trump teleprompter operator fined over insider prediction trades

A former White House teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump has been ordered to pay about $172,000 after federal regulators said he used advance access to presidential speeches to profit from online prediction-market trades.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Friday that Gabriel Perez must give up $107,539.02 in profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty as part of a settlement. The agency also barred him from trading on prediction markets for three years.

The CFTC described the case as insider trading, saying Perez used “material, nonpublic information” obtained through his White House job to trade on presidential mention market contracts. Those contracts are event-based wagers tied to words or phrases the president may use during speeches.

“In his position, Perez had access to presidential speeches prior to those speeches being delivered and Perez misappropriated that information — in breach of his duty of trust and confidence,” the commission said in a release, according to CBS News.

Perez made the trades through Kalshi, a prediction-market platform. The CFTC said Kalshi assisted in the matter, and CBS News reported that a Kalshi spokesperson said the company investigated Perez’s trading activity after surveillance systems detected trades that did not match typical buying and selling patterns. Kalshi froze Perez’s account, locking more than $90,000 in profits he made on the platform, the spokesperson confirmed to CBS News.

After completing its investigation, Kalshi referred the case to the CFTC and worked with the agency for months, CBS News reported.

“A Kalshi surveillance investigation caught a White House staffer engaging in prohibited trading activity. Today this individual was subjected to penalties by the CFTC and by our exchange,” Bobby DeNault, Kalshi’s lead lawyer, wrote in a post on X.

“It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences,” he added.

CBS News reported that the commission found Perez made about $107,500 by betting on words and phrases that would appear in Trump’s speeches between December 2025 and February 2026. NBC News reported the precise profit figure as $107,539.02, matching the CFTC’s disgorgement order.

The commission said the civil penalty was reduced because of Perez’s “exemplary cooperation.”

Perez had served as a teleprompter operator for Trump since 2016 and was also described by the CFTC as a technical assistant to the president. Public records on LegiStorm, cited by CBS News, show Perez worked for the Trump administration during the president’s first and second terms, holding roles as a technical adviser and teleprompter operator. In January 2025, he began work as a technical adviser for the White House Office, the records show.

Perez was placed on unpaid leave from his White House job after it was determined that he used his position to bet on what Trump would say in speeches, two people familiar with the matter told CBS News last month. A White House official said in July that Perez was no longer in his position but did not say whether he had been fired or had resigned.

The White House did not immediately comment on the settlement. NBC News said Perez could not be reached for comment.

Then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in July called the trades “deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace.” She also said at the time that “this individual will no longer be here.”

CBS News reported that the White House Management Office sent a letter to White House aides in March instructing them not to place bets on prediction markets using nonpublic information, citing multiple administration officials.