Former White House Speech Operator Accused of Insider Trading on Prediction Markets, Faces $107,539 Disgorgement and Ban

A former White House teleprompter operator is required to return $107,539.02 in profits earned through prediction-market trading, after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission determined he used advance access to presidential speech transcripts.

The settlement agreement obliges Gabriel Perez to pay a $65,000 civil penalty, refrain from future violations, and accept a three‑year prohibition from trading. The CFTC noted that the penalty was significantly reduced due to Perez’s cooperation. The documents pertain to a civil regulatory settlement and do not indicate a criminal conviction.

How the White House Speech Operator Leveraged Insider Access

The CFTC determined that Perez traded presidential “mention” market contracts from December 2025 to February 2026 while employed as a White House teleprompter operator. These event contracts, characterized as swaps, settled based on whether the President employed specific words or phrases in his speeches.

According to the order, Perez obtained the speeches prior to their delivery. The CFTC concluded that he misappropriated this nonpublic information, violating his duty of trust, and realized more than $107,500 in profit.

Other market participants priced the likelihood of particular phrases being uttered, whereas Perez possessed advance knowledge of the script, granting him an informational edge in determining contract outcomes.

The CFTC’s release details the settled charges against Perez and acknowledges KalshiEX’s assistance, but it does not allege violations by the exchange or cite a surveillance failure.

The Associated Press reported in July that Kalshi enforcement head Robert DeNault said the exchange’s surveillance team “promptly flagged, investigated and referred” the trades to the CFTC. Although his statement did not name Perez, the CFTC’s final release confirms the exchange’s assistance and omits details of the review’s timing or referral.

Kalshi subsequently introduced controls aimed at preventing insider trading before the transaction occurred. In June, the firm announced risk‑scoring mechanisms for high‑risk markets, employment verification for certain participants, and expanded whistleblower tools. These measures were implemented after Perez’s December‑February trading window, and the existing evidence does not confirm whether they would have prevented his activity.

The settlement illustrates the convergence of the exchange’s referral of the matter and the CFTC’s enforcement actions after the profits were realized: Kalshi received credit for its assistance, while the CFTC imposed disgorgement, a penalty, and a market ban. However, the settlement alone does not demonstrate that the safeguards were timely or adequate to prevent the trades.

The record underscores two separate enforcement functions. A February CFTC advisory states that designated contract markets are independently responsible for maintaining audit trails, conducting surveillance, and enforcing rules against prohibited practices. The CFTC retains authority to investigate and prosecute illicit trading and coordinates its actions with exchanges on referrals.

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