A White House employee and teleprompter operator charged with using inside information to profit from President Donald Trump’s speeches reached a settlement fine on Friday.
Key Takeaways
- The CFTC gave Gabriel Perez a “substantial” fine discount.
- The teleprompter operator made over $100,000 from mention contracts on prediction markets.
- Federal regulators say Perez breached his “duty of trust.”
Gabriel Perez will pay a $65,000 civil penalty and return $107,539 in unlawful trading earnings acquired from prediction market mention contracts, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced.
Perez received a “substantial discount” for cooperating with the CFTC’s investigation, and he admitted to profiting from insider information.
Popular prediction market operator Kalshi worked with the CFTC and reportedly alerted federal regulators to suspicious activity in the Presidential mention markets, which can include what words or phrases, like “Iran” or “Biden,” will be used during speeches.
“It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences,” Robert Denault, Kalshi Head of Enforcement, said in a social media post on Friday.
A Kalshi surveillance investigation caught a White House staffer engaging in prohibited trading activity. Today this individual was subjected to penalties by the CFTC and by our exchange.
— robertjdenault (@robertjdenault) August 29, 2026
It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the… pic.twitter.com/fyKFEzcXAv
Enjoying Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account
Information violation
Perez also agreed to a three-year trading ban and to cease violating the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.
The CFTC said Perez traded 43 contracts on presidential mention markets between December 2025 and February 2026, profiting from 39 Presidential mentions he had access to before public events. Perez reportedly would sell his market positions if Trump changed speeches after contracts were purchased.
“In his position, Perez had access to presidential speeches prior to those speeches being delivered, and Perez misappropriated that information – in breach of his duty of trust and confidence – to trade presidential mention market contracts, generating over $107,500 in profits,” the CFTC said in its statement.
The White House told CNN in July that Perez’s actions were “frankly a disgrace.” He was placed on unpaid leave during the investigation.
Cracking down?
Perez began working for Trump’s administration during the President’s first term, and Perez was promoted from special assistant to deputy assistant during that time. Perez is reportedly one of a few aides who see the President’s speeches before events.
The CFTC said Perez traded more than a dozen mention contracts related to Trump speeches at the World Economic Forum, the State of the Union, and the Medal of Honor ceremony.
Insider traders profiting off prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have become a concern among federal officials and lawmakers over the last several months, but Perez is the first high-ranking White House aide to come under fire.
In other prediction market news, the CFTC is reportedly investigating the legitimacy of mention contracts. Kalshi has stopped offering mention markets on sports, according to NPR. Polymarket does not offer mention markets in the U.S.
