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A teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump has been ordered to pay a significant fine for using insider information to place prediction market bets. On Friday (August 28), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Gabriel Perez must pay over $107,000 in profits he made from these bets, along with a $65,000 civil penalty.
Perez, who served as Trump's teleprompter operator since 2016, used "material, nonpublic information" from the president's speeches to make trades on Kalshi, a prediction market platform. The CFTC labeled this activity as insider trading, noting that Perez traded "presidential mention market contracts," which are event contracts based on words or phrases the President might use in his speeches.
Kalshi played a role in uncovering the prohibited trading activity. Bobby DeNault, Kalshi's lead lawyer, stated, "A Kalshi surveillance investigation caught a White House staffer engaging in prohibited trading activity. Today this individual was subjected to penalties by the CFTC and by our exchange." He emphasized that violators of rules or federal law will face consequences.
The CFTC highlighted Perez's "exemplary cooperation" during the investigation. Despite this, Perez has been banned from trading on prediction markets for three years. The White House placed him on leave in July, and former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the trades as a breach of ethics, calling them "deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace."
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Perez could not be reached.