Former White House Teleprompter Operator Ordered to Pay $172,000 for Kalshi Trades
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has ordered Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, to pay more than $172,000. The agency charged him with using early access to President Trump’s speeches to profit from mention markets on the prediction platform Kalshi.
Details of the Settlement
Perez must repay $107,539.02 in profits. He also faces a $65,000 civil penalty. The order bans him from trading on any CFTC-registered platform for three years. Perez consented to the order without admitting the findings. The CFTC reduced the civil fine by about 40% because of his “exemplary cooperation.” He voluntarily sat for an interview and accepted responsibility.
How the Trades Worked
Perez opened a Kalshi account on December 8, 2025. He traded from December 2025 through March 2026. As teleprompter operator, he reviewed Trump’s prepared remarks about an hour before delivery. He then placed bets on Kalshi mention markets. These markets predict specific words that public figures will use in speeches. The CFTC credited Kalshi’s surveillance team for detecting the activity.
Second CFTC Case Involving Event Contracts
This is the CFTC’s second insider trading case against a federal employee trading event contracts. It is also the agency’s second related settlement in four weeks. On July 31, former congressman George Santos agreed to pay about $35,000 over Kalshi trades linked to the State of the Union address. Both cases resulted in three-year trading bans and stemmed from Kalshi referrals.
Broader Context on Prediction Markets
Private company employees have also faced similar charges. In May, federal prosecutors charged a Google engineer with using internal data to profit about $1.2 million on Polymarket. The CFTC filed a parallel civil complaint. House Oversight Chairman James Comer launched a probe into insider trading controls at Kalshi and Polymarket. Both platforms tightened screening tools and conduct rules in March. Separately, the Ninth Circuit recently ruled against Kalshi in a dispute with Nevada gaming regulators.
