Gabriel Perez, President Trump’s teleprompter operator since 2016, is in settlement talks with federal regulators after allegedly making more than $100,000 betting on the contents of Trump’s speeches using the prediction market platform Kalshi, sources told ABC News.
Perez, a technical assistant who has final eyes on nearly all of the president’s prepared remarks, placed bets on more than a dozen Trump speeches over a three-month period on Kalshi’s “Mentions” market, where users wager on whether specific words, phrases, or topics will be uttered during a public speech. Kalshi’s surveillance team flagged the suspicious activity and referred it to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, the bets coincided with Trump’s February State of the Union address, a December primetime speech, a January address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and remarks in March during a Medal of Honor ceremony. Investigators discovered instances when Perez would back out of certain bets mid-speech when Trump skipped over portions of prepared remarks that included words Perez had wagered would be mentioned.
Kalshi froze the account in March after analysts and market makers flagged the trades, keeping more than $90,000 of Perez’s profits on the platform, according to a person familiar with the investigation. “Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC, and we are cooperating and assisting regulators,” Kalshi’s lead lawyer, Bobby DeNault, said in a statement to ABC News.
The White House acknowledged the matter in a statement: “The White House has strict ethics guidelines that we expect all staffers and officials to follow. The staffer in question is fully cooperating with the CFTC.” A CFTC spokesperson declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.
Perez sat for an interview with regulators in recent months and acknowledged some of the trades. The CFTC has expressed a willingness to settle with Perez on terms that would require him to return his profits and refrain from similar trades, according to sources. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to open a criminal investigation.
Prediction Markets and Insider Trading Enforcement
The case reflects growing federal scrutiny of prediction markets as a potential avenue for insider trading. In April 2026, the CFTC brought its first-ever insider trading case involving prediction markets, charging an active-duty U.S. Army soldier with placing bets on a classified military operation targeting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that netted more than $400,000. That soldier, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, has pleaded not guilty.
In May 2026, the Department of Justice charged a Google software engineer with civil violations for allegedly betting on user searches using internal company data. The CFTC issued a Prediction Markets Advisory in February 2026 warning that insider trading laws apply to prediction market trading, and the agency has signaled aggressive enforcement intentions.
Kalshi has a policy prohibiting users from placing bets based on nonpublic information obtained through their jobs. In June, the company updated its policies to require users to disclose their place of employment in order to trade in certain high-risk markets. “If you have information by virtue of your job or your employment, something that you have a legal duty surrounding, and you have an obligation not to take that, misappropriate it for yourself,” DeNault told ABC News in May.
Perez continues to serve as one of Trump’s teleprompter operators. Trump is known to frequently deviate from his prepared remarks—he told the Detroit Economic Club in January that he goes off teleprompter about 80 percent of the time. Perez previously came under scrutiny by congressional and federal investigators over edits made to Trump’s remarks before the president’s speech surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Sources
- ABC News — Reported Perez’s identity, the $100K+ betting amount, the three-month timeline, specific speeches wagered on, Kalshi’s referral to CFTC, the White House statement, Perez’s interview with regulators, settlement discussions, and the March internal memo.
- Financial Times — Confirmed Perez’s investigation, the $90K+ frozen by Kalshi, the March flagging and account freeze, and context on mention markets and insider trading vulnerability.
- CNBC — Reported the CFTC investigation, Kalshi’s surveillance referral, and that Kalshi retained more than $90,000 of profits.
