White House Teleprompter Operator Placed On Leave After Betting on Trump Speeches

Federal regulators have uncovered evidence that President Trump's longtime teleprompter operator profited from wagering on the contents of the president's own speeches, according to sources familiar with the matter.  

Gabriel Perez, who has managed President Trump's teleprompter since 2016, is now negotiating a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) after investigators determined he earned more than $100,000 through bets placed on the prediction platform Kalshi. 

The suspicious activity centered on Kalshi's "Mentions" market, which allows users to wager on whether certain words or topics will be mentioned during a public address. Kalshi flagged the unusual trading pattern to the CFTC, and the company says it has cooperated fully with the agency's review.  

Investigators found that Perez traded on Kalshi markets based on President Trump's speeches spanning more than a dozen speeches over a three-month period. Among them were the State of the Union address in February, a December address, and remarks at the World Economic Forum in January. 

Sources say Perez sometimes withdrew wagers mid-speech when President Trump skipped over material he had bet would be mentioned, a pattern that drew scrutiny from investigators. Perez has reportedly been questioned and admitted to some of the trades.  

The CFTC referred the matter to federal prosecutors in New York, who chose not to pursue criminal charges, and regulators are now discussing a settlement that would require Perez to return his earnings and stop similar betting. 

Perez has since been placed on administrative leave by the White House. 

Senators push to ban officials from betting on insider knowledge 

Cases like the one involving Trump's teleprompter operator are part of the reason a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation earlier this year to close the door on this kind of trading altogether.  

Senators John Curtis, Elissa Slotkin, Todd Young, and Adam Schiff put forward the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026, which would bar federally elected officials and government employees from using nonpublic information to place bets on contracts on prediction market apps.

The bill covers a wide range of officials, including the president, vice president, members of Congress, congressional staff, political appointees, and employees of executive and independent agencies. It broadly defines insider information as anything a reasonable investor would consider significant to a betting decision that isn't already public. 

Violators would face fines equal to either $500 or twice their trading profit, whichever is greater. Enforcement would fall to the Office of Government Ethics along with the House and Senate ethics committees, which would be required to set rules and penalties within 180 days of the bill becoming law, in coordination with the CFTC. 

“Public service should not be a pathway to private gain,” said Sen. Curtis. “Our bipartisan legislation ensures that insider trading rules apply to prediction markets and removes any ambiguity in how those rules are enforced—underscoring a basic expectation that those entrusted with sensitive information cannot use it for personal profit.”