Gabriel Perez, a teleprompter operator for Donald Trump since 2016, is currently under federal investigation and in settlement talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for allegedly profiting over $100,000 from bets placed on the prediction market Kalshi. The allegations state that Perez used his insider knowledge of Trump's upcoming speeches to bet on whether specific words, phrases, or topics would be mentioned. This activity was flagged by Kalshi's surveillance team, which then reported it to the CFTC.
The investigation uncovered that Perez placed bets on more than a dozen Trump speeches over a three-month period, including the State of the Union address, a December primetime address, a January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and remarks during a Medal of Honor ceremony. In some instances, Perez reportedly backed out of bets mid-speech if Trump skipped over a section containing a word he had bet on. The CFTC is seeking restitution of his profits and a ban on similar future trades.
Kalshi has a strict policy against users betting based on information obtained through their jobs and has since updated its policies to require users to disclose their employment. The White House also issued an internal memo warning staff against using nonpublic information for prediction market bets. Although federal prosecutors were alerted, they declined to open a criminal investigation. Perez continues in his role and has reportedly cooperated with regulators, acknowledging some of the trades.
