White House Teleprompter Operator Gabriel Perez Accused of Insider Trading on Kalshi Prediction Market, Earning Over $100,000 from Trump's Speeches

A White House teleprompter operator has been accused of leveraging insider access to presidential speeches for substantial profits on the Kalshi prediction market platform.

Gabriel Perez, who operated the teleprompter for Donald Trump, reportedly earned more than $100,000 by placing bets on whether the president would utter specific words and phrases during official addresses. According to ABC News, Perez had privileged access to prepared speech texts and was often among the last individuals to review materials before events.

The trades covered more than a dozen high-profile occasions, including Trump’s address to Congress, his speech at the World Economic Forum, and the Medal of Honor ceremony. Sources indicate that Perez frequently adjusted or abandoned positions when the president deviated from the script, behavior that drew the attention of Kalshi’s monitoring systems.

After detecting the suspicious activity, Kalshi reviewed the account and referred the matter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Regulators are reportedly discussing a pre-trial settlement that may require Perez to disgorge his profits and agree to refrain from future trading on the platform.

The White House placed the operator on unpaid administrative leave. Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt stated that internal policies explicitly prohibit staff from profiting from non-public information and confirmed that President Trump has been briefed on the matter. Perez will no longer work in the administration.

This incident follows previous enforcement actions by Kalshi, including restrictions on candidates betting on their own elections and penalties imposed on three politicians in April. Oversight of prediction markets ultimately rests with federal regulators, similar to surveillance mechanisms employed by exchanges such as the Moscow Exchange.