Who Is Gabriel Perez? Trump Teleprompter Betting Scandal Explained

Gabriel Perez is a former White House teleprompter operator who was found by federal regulators to have used advance access to President Donald Trump’s prepared speeches to make more than $107,000 trading prediction-market contracts on Kalshi. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Perez repeatedly traded contracts that paid out depending on whether Trump used particular words or phrases in speeches, giving Perez an obvious informational advantage because his job provided access to those remarks before the public heard them. On August 28, 2026, Perez agreed to surrender $107,539.02 in profits, pay a $65,000 civil penalty and accept a three-year trading ban. He had already been placed on unpaid leave and subsequently left federal employment.

Who Is Gabriel Perez?

Perez Was A Longtime Trump Teleprompter Operator. He had worked with Trump’s teleprompter operation since the 2016 presidential campaign and later served as a White House technical assistant during Trump’s second administration. [ABC News]

His Job Gave Him Exceptional Access To Trump’s Prepared Remarks. Sources familiar with the operation said Perez was often among the final people to see the president’s speech text and could receive last-minute changes directly before Trump delivered an address. [ABC News]

That Access Became Valuable Because Prediction Markets Allowed People To Bet On Trump’s Exact Words.

What Were The Trump Speech Bets?

Perez Traded Kalshi “Mention Market” Contracts. These prediction-market contracts allow traders to wager on whether a particular word, phrase or subject will appear during a speech or other event. [CFTC]

The Contracts Function Like Yes-Or-No Financial Bets. For example, traders might buy contracts predicting that Trump will say a particular word during an address. If the word is spoken under the market’s rules, the winning contracts pay out.

Ordinary Traders Have To Guess What Trump Will Say. Perez, by contrast, had access to prepared presidential speech text before Trump spoke.

Perez Used Nonpublic Trump Speech Information

The CFTC Found That Perez Misappropriated Material Nonpublic Information. The regulator said he obtained confidential information through his federal employment and used it for his own financial benefit. [CFTC]

The Agency Said Perez Violated A Duty Of Trust And Confidence. His access to presidential speeches existed because of his government job, not because the information was publicly available. [CFTC]

The Conduct Was Therefore More Than Simply Being Good At Predicting Trump’s Talking Points. Regulators concluded that Perez was trading with information unavailable to other market participants.

The Betting Ran From December 2025 Through February 2026

The CFTC Identified A Three-Month Period Of Improper Trading. Perez traded presidential mention contracts between December 2025 and February 2026 while still employed as a White House teleprompter operator. [CFTC]

Investigators Found Bets Connected To More Than A Dozen Trump Speeches. Early reporting identified a December primetime address, Trump’s January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos and his February State of the Union among the events scrutinized by regulators. [ABC News]

The Scheme Was Not Limited To A Single Opportunistic Trade. Regulators found a repeated pattern of using advance speech information.

Perez Made More Than $107,000

The CFTC Calculated Perez’s Illegal Trading Profits At $107,539.02. That is the amount he must disgorge under the settlement. [CFTC]

Initial News Reports Had Put His Profits At More Than $100,000. The final enforcement order supplied the more precise figure. [CBS News]

His Profits Were Extraordinary For A Market Supposedly Based On Prediction. Perez’s job allegedly allowed him to know information other traders could only estimate.

Kalshi Detected The Suspicious Trading

Kalshi’s Own Surveillance System Flagged Perez’s Activity. The prediction-market company said its internal monitoring detected trades that did not resemble normal buying and selling patterns. [CBS News]

Kalshi Investigated And Referred The Matter To Federal Regulators. The company provided evidence to the CFTC and assisted with the investigation. [CFTC] [Axios]

The Platform Also Froze Perez’s Account. Reporting indicated that the freeze prevented him from realizing some additional profits from the suspicious trading. [Axios]

Why This Was Described As Insider Trading

Perez Was Not Accused Of Traditional Stock-Market Insider Trading. The contracts involved prediction markets rather than shares of a publicly traded company.

The CFTC Nevertheless Treated The Conduct As Illegal Trading On Inside Information. The agency said event contracts traded on Kalshi are swaps covered by federal commodities law and that Perez illegally misappropriated confidential information to trade them. [CFTC]

The Case Is Significant Because Prediction Markets Are Rapidly Expanding. The enforcement action demonstrates that regulators intend to apply anti-fraud and misappropriation rules when employees exploit privileged information to trade event contracts.

Trump’s State Of The Union Was Among The Bets

Perez Was Reportedly Trading Around Trump’s February 2026 State Of The Union Address. The speech generated numerous markets concerning words, subjects and policy topics Trump might mention. [ABC News]

Perez Had Direct Access To The Prepared Text. That potentially allowed him to know which mention contracts were likely to resolve in his favor before the speech began.

The Case Illustrates A Fundamental Vulnerability In Political Prediction Markets. Hundreds of government employees, speechwriters, political advisers and event organizers can sometimes know the outcome of seemingly uncertain markets before ordinary traders.

Perez Was Placed On Unpaid Leave

The Scandal Became Public On July 16, 2026. News organizations reported that federal regulators were investigating Perez over his Kalshi activity. [ABC News] [CBS News]

The White House Immediately Put Him On Unpaid Administrative Leave. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump ordered the suspension after learning about the allegations. [Euronews]

The White House Said It Had Strict Ethics Rules. Officials emphasized that employees were expected not to exploit confidential government information for personal financial gain.

Perez Leaves The Federal Government

By July 28 Perez No Longer Worked For The Federal Government. A White House official confirmed his departure but declined to say whether he had been fired or had resigned. [Guardian] [AP]

The Precise Circumstances Of His Departure Were Not Publicly Disclosed. It is therefore more accurate to say he left federal employment than to state definitively that he was fired.

White House Had Already Warned Employees About Prediction Markets

The White House Issued An Internal Warning In March 2026. Staff were reminded not to use nonpublic government information when making prediction-market trades. [ABC News]

The Warning Came After The Period Of Trading Identified By The CFTC. Perez’s documented transactions ran through February, meaning the misconduct found by regulators occurred before that formal warning.

The Memo Demonstrated That The Administration Recognized Prediction-Market Trading As An Ethics Risk.

Perez Agrees To Pay More Than $172,000

The CFTC Announced A Settlement On August 28, 2026. Perez agreed to resolve the civil enforcement case without continuing to contest the regulator’s findings. [CFTC]

He Must Return $107,539.02 In Profits. Disgorgement is intended to prevent a wrongdoer from retaining financial gains produced by unlawful conduct. [CFTC]

Perez Must Also Pay A $65,000 Civil Monetary Penalty. Together, the disgorgement and fine total $172,539.02. [Reuters]

Perez Receives A Three-Year Trading Ban

The Settlement Bars Perez From Trading Covered Markets For Three Years. He also agreed to cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. [CFTC]

The Trading Ban Is Separate From His Departure From Government. Even though he no longer has White House access, federal regulators imposed an additional market restriction.

His Fine Was Reduced Because He Cooperated

The CFTC Said Perez Provided “Exemplary Cooperation.” His $65,000 civil penalty represented a substantial reduction under the agency’s enforcement policy rewarding meaningful cooperation. [CFTC]

The Reduced Fine Does Not Mean The Agency Considered The Conduct Minor. Perez still had to surrender all identified profits and accept a multiyear trading ban.

Cooperation Likely Helped Regulators Reconstruct How The Trading Occurred.

No Criminal Charges Were Announced

The Public Enforcement Action Against Perez Is Civil Rather Than Criminal. The CFTC imposed financial penalties and trading restrictions.

Earlier Reporting Said Federal Prosecutors In Manhattan Had Declined To Open A Criminal Case. [Axios]

That Means Perez Was Not Convicted Of A Federal Crime In Connection With The Betting. The CFTC settlement nevertheless formally establishes regulatory violations and financial consequences.

The Scandal Raises Questions About Political Prediction Markets

Prediction Markets Create Valuable Opportunities For Insiders. Markets can exist on election results, court decisions, government announcements, economic statistics and even the words used in political speeches.

Many Of Those Outcomes Are Known In Advance By Someone. Speechwriters know prepared remarks, government statisticians know reports before release and political staff can know planned announcements.

The Perez Case Shows That Internal Information Can Be Converted Into Money Almost Instantly. A person does not need to steal corporate earnings information when a prediction platform offers a tradable contract on an event the employee already knows.

The Case Also Raises Government Ethics Concerns

Perez’s Government Role Required Him To Handle Confidential Presidential Material. The information was entrusted to him so he could perform a technical job supporting presidential speeches.

Using That Information For Personal Trading Converted Public Employment Into A Private Financial Advantage. The CFTC specifically characterized his conduct as a breach of his duty of trust and confidence. [CFTC]

That Is Why The Controversy Goes Beyond Ordinary Gambling. The core issue is misuse of privileged government information.

Kalshi Says Its Monitoring System Worked

The Perez Case Also Became A Test For Kalshi’s Compliance Controls. Critics of prediction markets have warned that insiders could exploit contracts whose outcomes they already know.

Kalshi Points To The Perez Investigation As Evidence That Its Surveillance Can Detect Abnormal Trading. The company flagged the account, froze it and referred information to the CFTC. [Axios] [CFTC]

The CFTC Publicly Credited KalshiEX For Assisting The Investigation. [CFTC]

The Scandal Could Lead To Tighter Rules

The Case Intensified Calls For Explicit Restrictions On Government Employees Trading Prediction Markets. The concern is particularly strong when federal employees possess advance information about government actions.

Traditional Ethics Rules Already Restrict Misuse Of Nonpublic Information. But prediction markets have created new financial products that were not prominent when many government ethics policies were written.

The Perez Case Provides Regulators With A Clear Enforcement Precedent. It establishes that using confidential federal information to trade CFTC-regulated event contracts can result in disgorgement, fines and trading bans.