Ex-teleprompter operator fined over $172,000 for betting on Trump’s speech words

A former White House teleprompter operator must pay more than 172,000 dollars in penalties after regulators found he used inside knowledge of President Donald Trump’s speeches to place bets on a prediction markets platform.

Gabriel Perez placed trades predicting what Trump would say during public addresses between December 2025 and February 2026 on Kalshi, a platform that allows users to bet on the outcomes of real world events. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the platform, ordered Perez to surrender profits totaling 107,539.02 dollars and pay an additional civil penalty of 65,000 dollars.

The White House has not yet issued a comment on the settlement. In July, then press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Perez had been placed on unpaid leave and would not return to his position.

Announcing the settlement Friday, the commission said Perez misappropriated advance knowledge of Trump’s speeches to place bets in breach of his duty of trust and confidence. The agency said it reduced his civil penalty in recognition of what it called his exemplary cooperation during the investigation. Perez has also received a three year ban from trading.

Kalshi’s lead lawyer, Bobby DeNault, welcomed the outcome in a social media post, saying that violating the platform’s rules or federal law carries consequences regardless of who is involved.

Kalshi had previously told reporters that its analysts detected unusual betting activity in March on what the company calls mention markets, contracts that let users wager on whether a speaker will use specific words or phrases, such as naming particular countries or repeating familiar campaign slogans. The company said it used internal account data to trace the activity to a federal employee who operated White House teleprompters, then reported the findings to regulators.

In a statement issued in July, Kalshi said the public remarks of political leaders, including presidents and Federal Reserve chairs, routinely move billions of dollars across foreign exchange markets, oil futures and stock markets. That same month, the White House Management Office sent a letter instructing staff not to place bets on prediction markets, according to administration officials who spoke with a US media partner.