White House Insider Betting
CFTC in Settlement Talks with White House Staffer Over Alleged Insider Bets on Trump Speeches
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Key Points
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More than $800,000 in Kalshi bets were placed on whether President Trump would say specific words or phrases ahead of the State of the Union, including terms like 'Hormuz,' 'rigged election,' and 'fake news.'
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Kalshi froze about $90,000 of Gabriel Perez's profits and banned him from placing bets on the Kalshi platform as part of the investigation.
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Perez has worked for Trump since 2016, making him a long-time White House teleprompter operator at the center of the probe.
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Forbes reports that Perez bet on more than a dozen Trump speeches, and investigators are examining profits over $100,000 in total as part of ongoing civil claims against him.
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The investigation is described as the first time a White House insider has been probed for insider trading tied to political prediction markets, according to reporting on the case.
Gabriel Perez, a White House teleprompter operator who has worked for President Trump since 2016, is in settlement talks with federal regulators after allegedly using advance knowledge of Trump speeches to win more than $100,000 on a political prediction market, according to WGME and KOMO News.
Perez allegedly placed bets on Kalshi's 'mention markets' — where users wager on whether a president will say specific words in a speech. Kalshi froze about $90,000 of his profits and banned him from the platform before referring the trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to ABC6.
How a Teleprompter Operator Allegedly Beat the Odds
Mention markets let bettors predict whether a speaker will use a specific word or phrase. Perez, who loaded Trump's speeches onto the teleprompter before delivery, would have known exactly what words were coming. Investigators say he used that knowledge to place winning bets, according to News Channel 9.
More than $800,000 in total bets were placed on whether Trump would say words like 'Hormuz,' 'rigged election,' and 'fake news' ahead of the State of the Union. Investigators are examining Perez's bets across more than a dozen Trump speeches, per KTUL.
Kalshi Spotted Unusual Trades, Froze the Money
Kalshi flagged the activity itself. The platform noticed unusual patterns in its mention markets and referred the trades to the CFTC for investigation, according to KOMO News. Kalshi has said it is cooperating fully with regulators.
About $90,000 of Perez's profits remain frozen. He has also been permanently banned from betting on Kalshi. Civil claims are ongoing, and investigators are looking at total profits exceeding $100,000 across all his bets, per ABC6.
First White House Insider Trading Case Tied to Prediction Markets
Legal experts say this is the first time a White House insider has been investigated for insider trading tied to political prediction markets, according to WGME. The case tests whether insider trading laws — long applied to stocks — can extend to prediction market bets.
The CFTC oversees prediction markets like Kalshi, which it approved for political event contracts in 2024. If Perez used non-public government information to profit, regulators say that could qualify as a violation of federal trading rules, per News Channel 9.
Settlement Talks Ongoing, No Final Ruling Yet
Perez is currently in talks with the CFTC to settle the case, according to KTUL. No charges have been filed and no final outcome has been reached. The White House has defended its staff ethics rules but has not commented directly on Perez.
Analysts say the case could push regulators to tighten rules around who can bet on political markets. It also puts pressure on Kalshi and other platforms to monitor insider activity more closely. Investigations remain ongoing, per KOMO News.
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