The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has opened an investigation into teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez, who is accused of using inside information to profit off event contract trades related to speeches conducted by President Donald Trump.
Perez allegedly placed bets on more than 12 of President Trump’s speeches over a three-month span, including a December primetime address, a January speech at the World Economic Forum and remarks made during a Medal of Honor ceremony in March.
Having won over $100,000 on the trades, Perez has since been placed on unpaid administrative leave and is currently working with CFTC investigators on a settlement which would require him to return his profits and refrain from making similar wagers.
Kalshi made the CFTC aware of Perez’s suspicious activity on its "Mentions" market, where users can bet on whether specific words, phrases or topics will be said during a public speech.
Perez has served as a technical assistant to President Trump since 2016 and would allegedly pull out of trades mid-speech if the President skipped over a passage which contained words he had bet on.
The CFTC also alerted federal prosecutors in Manhattan, New York of its investigation into Perez’s trading activity, although state lawmakers chose not to open a criminal investigation at the time.
The White House had previously issued a memo to warn staff members of using private information to profit off prediction market trading, with no fellow personnel currently believed to be under investigation.
In February, Kalshi released the penalties for two cases of insider trading, including a California politician who wagered on his own candidacy for Governor, as well as an editor for popular YouTube content creator Mr. Beast after wagering on YouTube streaming markets.
The operator launched an independent Surveillance Audit Committee which is tasked with producing quarterly reports containing statistics on flagged trades, open and closed investigations and cases referred to the government for further enforcement.
Kalshi and Fox Corporation agreed to a partnership in April which saw the operator’s data on politics, economics, weather and culture be integrated into the media network’s linear and digital content
