Ex-White House teleprompter operator fined for betting on Trump speeches

A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay more than USD 172,000 for betting on Donald Trump's speeches using advance knowledge. The CFTC said the case breached trust, while Kalshi said rule-breaking on its platform would draw consequences.

In Short

• Gabriel Perez used advance knowledge of Trump speeches for Kalshi trades
• CFTC ordered him to surrender profits and pay a civil penalty
• Regulators said he breached trust by misusing confidential speech details

A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay more than USD 172,000, or £127,000, for using inside information to place bets on US President Donald Trump's speeches.

According to the BBC, Gabriel Perez made trades on Kalshi, a prediction markets platform, based on what Trump would say in speeches and addresses between December 2025 and February 2026.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Perez must surrender USD 107,539.02 in profits and pay a civil penalty of USD 65,000.

Announcing the settlement on Friday, the CFTC said Perez had "misappropriated" prior knowledge of Trump's speeches to place bets, in breach of his duty of trust and confidence.

The regulator said the civil penalty was reduced due to Perez's "exemplary co-operation" with the investigation. He has also been banned from trading for three years.

The White House had not commented on the settlement. In July, then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Perez had been placed on unpaid leave and would not return to his post.

Kalshi's lead lawyer Bobby DeNault welcomed the decision, saying on X that anyone violating the platform's rules or federal law would face consequences.

The company had previously told the BBC that its analysts detected unusual activity in "mention markets", where users predict whether speakers will use particular words, country names or campaign slogans.

Kalshi said it used account data to identify the user as a federal employee operating White House teleprompters and reported the activity to the CFTC.

In a statement in July, the company said the words of political leaders, including presidents and Federal Reserve chairs, could trigger billions of dollars in movements across foreign exchange markets, oil futures and stocks.

According to the BBC, the White House Management Office also sent a letter to aides in July directing them not to place bets on prediction markets, administration officials told CBS News.

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