Former White House Teleprompter Operator Fined Over $172,000 for Speeches Bets

A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to surrender his financial gains and pay a civil penalty totaling more than $172,000 for using confidential information about presidential addresses to place wagers on a prediction market platform, United States regulators announced on Friday.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reported that Gabriel Perez engaged in unauthorized trading between December 2025 and February 2026. Perez utilized his early access to the prepared text of speeches given by US President Donald Trump to execute trades on Kalshi, a financial exchange where participants buy and sell contracts linked to future real-world events.

According to the settlement terms, Perez must hand over $107,539.02 in trading profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty. The CFTC determined that Perez had “misappropriated” non-public draft speeches “in breach of his duty of trust and confidence.” The enforcement agency stated that the civil fine was lowered due to Perez’s “exemplary co-operation” throughout the federal investigation.

The trading activity was first detected in March when analysts at Kalshi identified unusual betting patterns in “mention markets.” These specialized derivative contracts permit users to speculate on whether a public speaker will say specific words or phrases, such as country names, economic terms, or campaign slogans. After cross-referencing account data, Kalshi discovered that the account owner was a federal employee operating White House teleprompters, prompting the company to report the activity to federal regulators.

Kalshi had previously noted that statements made by prominent political figures can heavily impact broader global financial markets. The company observed in July that specific terms used by national presidents or Federal Reserve chairs have the potential to trigger billions of dollars in value movements across foreign exchange markets, oil futures, and stock exchanges.

Following public reporting on the probe in July, then-White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Perez was placed on unpaid leave and would not return to his White House duties. Unnamed administration officials told media partner CBS News that the White House Management Office subsequently dispatched a letter to government aides instructing them not to wager on prediction markets. The White House has not issued a statement regarding the finalized settlement.

Kalshi’s lead lawyer, Bobby DeNault, welcomed the regulatory action, writing on social media that anyone breaking rules or laws “will face the consequences” regardless of their role.

Background

Prediction markets are regulated trading platforms where participants purchase contracts tied to the outcome of real-world events, ranging from election results to economic indicators and specific speech topics. In the United States, these platforms are supervised by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which enforces federal regulations against market manipulation and misuse of non-public information. US government personnel are subject to ethics rules and federal laws that strictly forbid employees from exploiting confidential government data for personal financial benefit.