A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay $172,000 to resolve allegations that he exploited advance access to presidential speeches for profit on a prediction market platform.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Gabriel Perez must disgorge $107,539.02 in ill-gotten gains and pay a $65,000 civil monetary penalty.
In a disclosure last July, the prediction market platform Kalshi revealed that Perez had leveraged his position to earn approximately $100,000 by wagering on the specific language President Trump would use in upcoming remarks. With early access to speech drafts, Perez placed bets on the appearance of common terms—such as country names and economic terminology—before the addresses were delivered publicly.
Following the revelations, then-White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated she had discussed the matter with President Trump, who characterized the conduct as a “disgrace.” Leavitt confirmed Perez’s immediate removal from his post at the president’s direction.
Under the terms of the settlement, Perez agreed to a cease-and-desist order barring future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. The commission also imposed a three-year ban on his trading activities.
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