Key facts
- Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, was fined $172,539 by the CFTC for insider trading.
- Perez used advance access to President Donald Trump's speeches to make unlawful prediction market trades.
- He must forfeit $107,500 in profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty.
- Perez received a three-year ban from trading.
- The fine was discounted due to Perez's cooperation with the investigation.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has fined Gabriel Perez, a former teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump, a total of $172,539 for insider trading. The settlement includes $107,500 in forfeited profits and a $65,000 civil penalty, along with a three-year ban from trading.
Perez gained access to President Trump's speeches before they were delivered and used this nonpublic information to place unlawful bets on prediction markets, specifically wagering on words or phrases Trump might use. The CFTC determined that Perez misappropriated this information, violating his duty to the U.S. government.
Between December 2025 and February 2026, Perez executed 49 trades on the prediction market platform Kalshi, securing profits of over $107,000 from 39 winning trades. He admitted to investigators that his trading decisions were informed by confidential information from reviewing the speeches.
Kalshi's head of enforcement, Bobby DeNault, confirmed that the platform identified Perez's suspicious trading activity and reported it to the CFTC, which acknowledged the platform's assistance. Perez is no longer employed by the federal government.
Despite the severity of the offense, Perez received a significant reduction in his fine due to his "exemplary cooperation" with the investigation. However, former CFTC commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero suggested the penalty was insufficient to deter insider trading at the highest levels of government.