Report: White House Teleprompter Operator Made More Than $100K Betting on Trump’s Speeches on Kalshi

President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator is under federal investigation for allegedly making more than $100,000 by betting on his own boss’s speeches through the prediction market Kalshi. Gabriel Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, is now in talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to settle allegations that he used advance knowledge of the president’s remarks to place winning wagers on Kalshi’s “Mentions” markets.

The case marks the first known instance of a White House insider facing scrutiny for allegedly exploiting privileged access to profit on a regulated prediction market, and it lands at a moment when Kalshi and its rivals are fielding growing volumes of bets tied to political speech, elections, and public events.

How the Alleged Scheme Worked

Kalshi’s “Mentions” markets let users bet on whether a specific word, phrase, or topic will come up during a scheduled public address. Because Perez controlled the teleprompter feeding Trump’s remarks, investigators believe he had a unique window into the content of speeches before they were delivered publicly.

According to sources familiar with the CFTC’s investigation, Perez placed bets on more than a dozen of Trump’s speeches over a roughly three-month stretch spanning December through February, including a December primetime address, a January appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a Medal of Honor ceremony in March, and February’s State of the Union address. Investigators reportedly determined he profited more than $100,000 across those wagers.

Kalshi Flagged the Activity Itself

The investigation began after Kalshi’s own surveillance systems detected unusual trading patterns tied to Perez’s account. “Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC, and we are cooperating and assisting regulators,” Bobby DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, said in a statement.

Perez reportedly sat for an interview with CFTC investigators and acknowledged some of the trades in question. The CFTC also alerted federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who ultimately declined to open a criminal case. Regulators have instead expressed willingness to resolve the matter through a civil settlement that would require Perez to return his winnings and agree not to make similar trades going forward.

White House Response

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Perez has been placed on unpaid administrative leave. She said she discussed the matter directly with Trump, who called the situation “a disgrace” and personally made the decision to suspend Perez while the investigation continues.

What It Means for Prediction Markets

The episode is likely to intensify scrutiny of how Kalshi and similar platforms police insider-style advantages as prediction markets expand well beyond sports and elections into everyday political speech. Regulators have already signaled they intend to treat misuse of non-public information on these markets with the same seriousness as traditional financial insider trading, and cases like this one could shape how exchanges write their compliance rules going forward. For bettors weighing whether to get involved in this fast-growing corner of the industry, resources like a prediction markets legal guide can help clarify how the space is regulated, while a closer look at the Kalshi review breaks down how the platform’s markets, including its mentions contracts, actually function.

For now, Perez remains on leave as negotiations with the CFTC continue, and the case stands as an early test of how far regulators are willing to go to police the intersection of political access and real-money betting markets.