A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay more than $172,000 for using inside information about Donald Trump’s speeches to place bets on a prediction market.
Gabriel Perez placed bets on Kalshi between December 2025 and February 2026 about speeches that the US president was due to deliver. Kalshi is a prediction market platform where users can bet on the outcome of real-world events.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates the platform, said Perez must give up $107,539.02 in profits and pay a $65,000 penalty. He has also been barred from trading for three years.
The White House has not commented on the case. In July, then Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Perez was on unpaid leave and would not return to his position.
How Perez used information about Trump’s speeches
The CFTC announced the settlement on Friday (August 28), saying Perez had “misused” information he knew about President Trump’s speeches in advance to gain an advantage while betting.
The regulator said this violated his “duty of trust and confidence” as a White House employee.
The penalty was reduced because of Perez’s “good cooperation” during the CFTC investigation. The settlement also includes the three-year trading ban.
Kalshi Chief Legal Officer Bobby Deanault welcomed the decision in a post on X. “It doesn’t matter who you are. If you violate our rules or federal law, you will face the consequences,” he wrote.
How Kalshi spotted unusual betting
Kalshi had earlier said its analysts noticed unusual betting activity in March on its “mention markets”. These contracts allow users to predict whether a speaker will use particular words or references, including the names of countries, campaign slogans or other common terms.
The company said it examined the account data and discovered that the user was a federal employee who operated the White House teleprompter. Kalshi then reported the activity to the regulator.
The case involves the advantage that advance knowledge of a presidential speech could give a trader. A person who knows what a president is likely to say can place bets on specific words or topics before the speech takes place.
Kalshi said in a statement released in July, “The words of political leaders like the president and Fed Chair move billions of dollars in foreign exchange markets, oil futures and stock markets.”
That makes information about the words and statements of senior US officials potentially valuable to traders watching prediction markets and financial markets.
White House warns staff against prediction market bets
The case has also led to tighter guidance for White House staff. Administration officials told CBS News that the White House Management Office sent a letter to aides in July telling them not to place bets on prediction markets.
Perez’s case comes at a time when prediction markets have gained ground in areas such as politics, public policy and statements by prominent officials. Kalshi allows users to trade contracts based on real-world events, with some markets covering whether a particular person will say a specific word or phrase.
According to the CFTC, Perez used information available to him through his White House role when making his trades between December 2025 and February 2026.
