CFTC fines Trump teleprompter operator $172,000 over speech bets

Gabriel Perez, who ran President Donald Trump’s teleprompter for nearly a decade, has agreed to hand over more than $172,000 to settle Commodity Futures Trading Commission charges that he bet on Trump’s own speeches using words he read ahead of anyone else. 

Prediction markets have rapidly gained popularity in 2026 and this settlement is the first known case of a White House insider caught trading on the platform. Regulators have also issued warnings to government staff that their access to nonpublic information is not a betting edge.

Who placed bets on President Trump’s words? 

Gabriel Perez, President Trump’s longtime teleprompter, has been charged with placing bets on Kalshi’s “mention markets” where traders can guess whether a public figure will utter a specific word or phrase during an event.

Perez had an unfair advantage because he was often the last aide to see Trump’s remarks before delivery. The CFTC found he traded on that confidential text for “his own personal, financial benefit.” 

The regulator counted 49 trades between December 2025 and February 2026, of which Perez won 39, clearing north of $107,000. He made bets on what Trump might say at the State of the Union, the National Prayer Breakfast, a Medal of Honor ceremony and assorted rallies. 

The CFTC has ordered Perez to give up $107,539.02 in trading profits and pay a separate civil penalty of $65,000. Kalshi also banned him from the platform for three years.

The CFTC said Perez’s penalty was reduced because he showed “exemplary co-operation.” They took into consideration that he voluntarily admitted his guilt in an interview, saying that his trading decisions were indeed based on the confidential information he had learned from his review of the speeches. 

Christy Goldsmith Romero, a former CFTC commissioner appointed under President Joe Biden, stated that the CFTC missed an opportunity to “send a strong message” to future insider traders. 

How was the White House insider caught?  

Perez was discovered after Kalshi’s surveillance team spotted abnormal activity on Trump-related mention markets, traced the account and linked it to a federal employee running White House teleprompters. The matter was then referred to the CFTC. 

Bobby DeNault, who heads enforcement at Kalshi, said on X that anyone who violates the company’s rules or federal law would “face the consequences.”

Perez, who had worked for Trump since the 2016 campaign and earned $175,000 a year as a deputy assistant to the president, was placed on unpaid leave in July. Then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the conduct “a disgrace,” and by late that month, Perez was reportedly no longer working for the federal government. 

Cryptopolitan reported that the CFTC settled with former Republican Rep. George Santos in August over a Kalshi contract on whether he would attend the State of the Union. 

Federal prosecutors have also charged an Army soldier over Polymarket bets tied to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and a Google engineer who made roughly $1.2 million trading on internal search data.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, a Trump appointee, has backed the prediction-market industry but also pledged to police insider trading inside it.

Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.