- A White House teleprompter operator made more than $100,000 by placing bets on what President Donald Trump would say on Kalshi.
- Gabriel Perez was Trump’s teleprompter since 2016 and allegedly used his insider information of the president’s speeches to make six figures.
- According to ABC News, President Trump said it’s a “disgrace” and put Perez on unpaid leave himself.
WASHINGTON – The man who often made the final touches to President Donald Trump’s speeches allegedly made more than $100,000 betting on those same speeches with Kalshi, a prediction market operator. Gabriel Perez wagered on the “Mentions” market at the popular prediction market, betting on specific words, topics, and phrases that Trump would say during a public speech.
Perez served as Trump’s teleprompt operator since 2016 but used his insider information to profit off of the content of the president’s speeches. When asked about the situation, Trump said he thought it was a “disgrace” and was the one who put Perez on unpaid leave.
CFTC Investigation Shows Dozens Of Speech Wagers
Investigators from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) discovered dozens of wagers by Perez across a three-month period. Some of those speeches include Trump’s December primetime address, a World Economic Forum speech in January, the State of the Union address in February, and Trump’s comments during a Medal of Honor ceremony in March.
Interestingly enough, the White House issued an internal memo in March that warned staff members against using nonpublic information to place wagers at prediction markets. An insider trading bill banned senators from using non-public information at prediction markets, and the “Prohibition On Use of Prediction Markets By Personnel of the Department of Defense” applies similar insider trading restrictions for military members.
Kalshi policies prevent users from placing bets based on information from their jobs, but they didn’t catch Perez’s suspicious wagering until he had already profited six figures. Eventually Kalshi did flag the CFTC and have since agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
The Kalshi surveillance team promptly flagged, investigated and referred these trades to the CFTC. We have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided all evidence that we collected, as we do with any referral. https://t.co/1XGX5zatpl— robertjdenault (@robertjdenault) July 16, 2026
Kalshi Lawyer and Head of Enforcement, Robert J. DeNault, commented on the situation on X. He replied to another X user questioning when Kalshi notifies traders in these markets of suspicious wagering, to which he replied:
“As soon as we become aware of a person’s potentially suspect trades, we freeze their account. We don’t alert people in the public until the legal process is complete because that’s what the law requires. Once the process is complete, to the extent we collect fines and disgorgement, we can redistribute those to harmed traders when possible.”
Kalshi’s constantly been in headlines due to their controversial event contracts that resemble legal sports betting, causing many states to ban the predictions platform. Now, Kalshi is dealing with an insider trading case coming from Trump’s longtime teleprompt operator.
