CFTC Orders Ex-White House Teleprompter Operator to Pay $172K Over Prediction Market Trading
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The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has ordered former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to pay $172,539 after finding that he used nonpublic information about President Donald Trump’s speeches to trade prediction-market contracts. The August 28 settlement includes $107,539.02 in disgorged profits and a $65,000 civil monetary penalty.
Perez also received a three-year trading ban and agreed to cease further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. The regulator said the civil penalty was substantially reduced because of what it described as Perez’s exemplary cooperation with the investigation.
Perez Traded on Advance Access to Trump Speeches
According to the CFTC, Perez traded presidential “mention market” contracts on Kalshi between December 2025 and February 2026 while working at the White House. These event contracts allow traders to take positions based on whether specified words or phrases will appear in a presidential speech.
The CFTC said Perez’s White House role gave him advance access to material, nonpublic information about presidential speeches before they were delivered. The regulator found that he used that information for his own trading and generated more than $107,500 in profits. The CFTC said:
“Perez had misappropriated the information in breach of his duty of trust and confidence.”
Kalshi Assisted With CFTC Investigation
The CFTC credited KalshiEX with assisting its investigation. Perez was placed on unpaid leave and is no longer employed by the federal government.
The enforcement action focuses on the misuse of confidential information rather than prediction-market trading generally. The case shows that using material, nonpublic government information to trade federally regulated event contracts can trigger CFTC enforcement.
Settlement Includes Three-Year Trading Ban
Alongside the financial payments, Perez is prohibited from trading for three years under the CFTC order. The settlement brings the CFTC’s case over Perez’s White House speech trading to a close.
