A former White House teleprompter has been ordered to pay more than $172,000 after using non-public information about Donald Trump’s speeches to place bets on prediction market platform Kalshi.
BBC has reported that Gabriel Perez was found to have traded contracts tied to what Trump would say during speeches between December 2025 and February 2026. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Perez had misappropriated information obtained through his former role to make the trades.
Under a settlement announced by the CFTC, Perez must surrender $107,539.02 in profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty. He has also been banned from trading for three years.
The regulator said the penalty was reduced because Perez cooperated with the investigation. The case involved Kalshi’s “mention markets,” which allow users to predict whether a speaker will mention specific words, countries, slogans or other terms during a speech.
Kalshi previously said its analysts identified unusual betting activity in March and used account information to determine that the trader was a federal employee who had worked with White House teleprompters. The company then reported the activity to the CFTC.
Kalshi’s lead lawyer Bobby DeNault welcomed the settlement, saying the decision demonstrated that traders who violate the platform’s rules or federal law would face consequences.
Earlier this month, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) first Innovation Advisory Committee met to discuss the regulation of prediction markets, including concerns about "mention markets" offered by platforms.
Last week, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled against Kalshi in the operator’s effort to secure an injunction against Nevada regulator
