WASHINGTON — U.S. federal regulators are examining whether a White House teleprompter operator improperly used advance access to President Donald Trump’s prepared remarks to profit from prediction-market contracts on what the president would say, adding to growing scrutiny of insider trading risks in the rapidly expanding market.
Gabriel Perez, who had operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, allegedly earned more than $100,000 by betting on specific words and phrases in more than a dozen presidential speeches on Kalshi, according to sources cited by ABC News. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates Kalshi as a federally registered derivatives exchange, is investigating the trades.
The White House placed Perez on unpaid administrative leave in July. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump regarded the alleged conduct as “deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace,” and said the administration maintains strict ethical rules governing the use of government information. Perez later left federal government employment, according to a White House official cited by The Independent.
Kalshi’s surveillance operation detected the trades and referred them to the CFTC, according to Robert Denault, the company’s lawyer and head of enforcement. Denault said the company had provided regulators with evidence it collected during its review. Kalshi’s contracts allow users to wager on whether particular words, phrases or topics will appear in public speeches and other events.
The case comes as federal authorities increase enforcement attention on possible insider trading and manipulation in prediction markets. CFTC Enforcement Director David Miller said in March that federal anti-fraud provisions apply to prediction-market contracts and that insider trading can be prohibited when traders use material nonpublic information.
The CFTC and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York separately brought criminal and civil actions in April against an Army servicemember accused of using classified information about a U.S. military operation to place profitable trades on Polymarket. The defendant has pleaded not guilty, according to CNN.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has defended federal oversight of prediction markets while saying the agency will pursue insider trading. The commission has described such markets as federally regulated financial products, while critics and some lawmakers argue they can function as gambling markets and create opportunities for misuse of confidential information.
As of the latest available reports, Perez’s case remained under regulatory scrutiny, with settlement discussions reported between him and federal regulators. No final enforcement action against him had been publicly announced.
