A teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump, Gabriel Perez, has been ordered to pay $172,000 for making online prediction trades on the president's speeches.
White House teleprompter operator faces penalty
On Friday, August 28, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced the penalty for Gabriel Perez, noting that he used "material, nonpublic information" that he obtained through his job to place "trades" on a prediction market.
Perez was ordered to pay the money he made in profits, $107,539.02, as well as a civil penalty of $65,000.
He was also banned from trading on prediction markets for three years.
Perez made the trades via Kalshi, with the CFTC sharing that that the prediction markets platform, where users can bet on real-world events, assisted in the investigation.
He was found to have made trades on what Trump would say during addresses between December 2025 and February 2026 on Kalshi.
In an X post, Bobby DeNault, Kalshi's lead lawyer wrote, "A Kalshi surveillance investigation caught a White House staffer engaging in prohibited trading activity. Today this individual was subjected to penalties by the CFTC and by our exchange."
"It doesn't matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences," he added.
The CFTC called it a case of insider trading, adding that Perez traded "presidential mention market contracts, which are event contracts reflecting words or phrases the President may use during his speeches".
Who is Gabriel Perez?
Perez was a technical assistant to the president who had served as a teleprompter operator for President Trump since 2016.
The CFTC cited what it called Perez’s "exemplary cooperation" in the case when announcing the fine and penalties Friday.
Then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in July called the online trades a breach of ethics and "deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace".
Perez was placed on leave in July and is no longer serving as the teleprompter operator for the White House.
