Trump Teleprompter Operator Banned From Prediction Markets, Fined $172K

Trump's longtime teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, has been banned from prediction markets for three years and ordered to pay roughly $172,539 after regulators found he used early access to the president's speeches to place bets on Kalshi. The CFTC announced the settlement Friday night, marking one of the first major insider-trading enforcement actions tied to event contracts.

What the CFTC found

Gabriel Perez used “material, nonpublic information” he obtained through his job to place “trades” on a prediction market, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a news release.

He traded presidential “mention market” contracts on the app between December 2025 and February 2026. The contracts were event contracts, which paid out based on whether a president used specific words or phrases in his speeches.

Perez was ordered to pay the money he made in profits, $107,539.02, as well as a civil penalty of $65,000. He's also banned from trading on prediction markets for three years, the CFTC said.

How Kalshi caught it

The White House suspended Perez from his role last month after online prediction market platform Kalshi flagged suspicious trades to federal regulators linked to the teleprompter operator. The exchange's surveillance system, not a whistleblower, kicked off the probe.

The CFTC cited what it called Perez's “exemplary cooperation” in the case when announcing the fine and penalties Friday. That cooperation earned him a discounted penalty relative to the potential exposure.

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Why this matters for prediction markets

Event contracts have become a fast-growing corner of retail speculation, and this is the clearest case yet of the CFTC treating misuse of nonpublic information on these platforms the same as insider trading in traditional markets. According to CBS News, in April, the White House Management Office sent a letter to White House aides telling them not to place bets on prediction markets with nonpublic information.

Lawmakers are also circling. The New York Democrat is preparing to introduce the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026. The bill would prohibit federally elected officials, political appointees, and executive branch employees from buying, selling, or trading prediction market contracts tied to government policy, actions, or political outcomes when they possess, or could reasonably access, material nonpublic information through their official roles.

Background on Perez

Perez was a technical assistant to the president who had served as a teleprompter operator for Trump since 2016. Then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in July called the online trades a breach of ethics and “deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace.”

Options market and stocks to watch

Prediction markets don't trade as public equities, but the surrounding ecosystem does. Watch for reactions in these names:

• COIN: Coinbase has been pushing further into prediction markets and CFTC-regulated event contracts. Watch for how regulators' tougher stance on insider activity shapes the competitive landscape.
• DKNG: DraftKings has explored prediction-market-adjacent products. Watch for commentary on regulatory risk as the CFTC signals a more active enforcement posture.
• MARA and IBKR: Interactive Brokers offers ForecastEx event contracts. Watch for whether tighter oversight of Kalshi bleeds over into how other CFTC-registered platforms surveil trades.

For more coverage of prediction markets and regulatory action, see additional news on Unusual Whales.

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