Ex-WH Staffer Fined $172K for Trump Speech Betting Scandal!

A former White House teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, has been ordered to pay more than $172,000 for using confidential, inside information to place bets on Donald Trump's speeches. This significant penalty includes both surrendered profits and a civil fine, following an investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The investigation revealed that Perez engaged in a series of trades between December 2025 and February 2026 on Kalshi, a prediction markets platform. He leveraged his advance knowledge of the president's speeches to bet on specific phrases or terms that would be used, essentially turning his access into a personal profit-making scheme. The CFTC stated that Perez "misappropriated" his prior knowledge, breaching his duty of trust and confidence.

Perez has been ordered to surrender profits totaling $107,539.02 and pay an additional civil penalty of $65,000.

Furthermore, he has been banned from trading on any CFTC-regulated markets for a period of three years.

The CFTC acknowledged his "exemplary co-operation" with the investigation, which led to a reduction in his civil penalty.

Kalshi, the platform where the bets were placed, played a crucial role in uncovering the misconduct.

Its analysts detected unusual betting patterns in "mention markets", contracts where users predict the use of specific terms by public figures, in March. After identifying that the user was a federal employee operating White House teleprompters, the company reported the activity to the regulator.

At the time of the initial investigation in July, the White House had placed Perez on unpaid leave, and no immediate comment on the settlement has been issued.

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