Gabriel Perez, who operated President Donald Trump's teleprompter for nearly a decade, has agreed to settle Commodity Futures Trading Commission charges by paying more than $172,000. Perez traded on confidential information about Trump's speeches using prediction markets where bettors wager on whether specific words or phrases will be spoken during public events.
The CFTC found that Perez placed 49 trades between December 2025 and February 2026 on Kalshi's mention markets, winning 39 of them and generating over $107,000 in profits. He bet on remarks Trump would make at the State of the Union, the National Prayer Breakfast, a Medal of Honor ceremony, and various rallies. As one of the last aides to review Trump's remarks before delivery, Perez had access to nonpublic information unavailable to other traders.
Under the settlement, Perez must forfeit $107,539.02 in trading profits and pay a civil penalty of $65,000. Kalshi banned him from the platform for three years. The CFTC noted that Perez's penalty was reduced due to his cooperation, including a voluntary admission during an interview that his trading decisions were based on confidential speech information.
The White House insider was discovered after Kalshi's surveillance team detected unusual trading activity on Trump-related markets, traced the account, and linked it to a federal employee. The case was referred to the CFTC. Perez, who earned $175,000 annually as a deputy assistant to the president, was placed on unpaid leave in July and subsequently left the federal government.
The settlement marks the first known case of a White House insider caught trading on prediction markets. Federal prosecutors have also charged an Army soldier over bets tied to Venezuelan political events and a Google engineer who made approximately $1.2 million trading on internal company data. The CFTC has issued warnings to government staff that access to nonpublic information does not constitute a legitimate trading advantage.
