Key Takeaways Gabriel Perez, who operated teleprompters at the White House, received a $172,000 penalty from the CFTC for exploiting insider knowledge on Kalshi prediction markets He accessed
The prediction market industry faces intensifying regulatory oversight following revelations that a White House staff member exploited privileged information about presidential addresses to generate substantial betting profits.
Nearly $173,000 and a three-year trading ban.
That's the price a White House teleprompter operator is facing after federal regulators say he exploited advance access to President Trump's speeches to profit from bets on what Trump would say.
The CFTC says Gabriel Perez made more… pic.twitter.com/O6ddcptQOE
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 29, 2026
Gabriel Perez, whose responsibilities included managing teleprompter systems, reached a settlement agreement requiring him to remit $172,000 to resolve allegations filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The settlement encompasses $107,539 in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus a $65,000 monetary sanction. Additionally, he faces a three-year prohibition from conducting transactions on any CFTC-regulated trading venue.
Perez established his Kalshi trading account during December 2025. His professional position provided him visibility into the president’s scripted statements approximately 60 minutes prior to their public presentation.
He exploited this informational advantage to execute trades on Kalshi’s “presidential mention markets.” These derivative instruments settle based on whether particular terminology or expressions appear in presidential communications. With advance knowledge of speech content, Perez could place virtually risk-free wagers.
His trading activities spanned from December 2025 through March 2026, generating aggregate profits surpassing $107,500 before regulatory intervention occurred.
The detection came from within Kalshi itself. The platform’s compliance and surveillance department identified the anomalous trading behavior and subsequently notified the CFTC. Robert DeNault, who heads enforcement at Kalshi, confirmed via social media that the company’s monitoring infrastructure successfully identified the violation.
“It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences,” DeNault declared.
Perez provided complete assistance to investigators throughout the inquiry. The CFTC characterized his level of cooperation as “exemplary,” which resulted in approximately 40% mitigation of his financial penalty. He agreed to the settlement terms while neither confirming nor denying the regulatory findings.
This enforcement action represents part of a broader pattern of misconduct. On July 31, former representative George Santos reached an approximately $35,000 settlement with the CFTC concerning Kalshi transactions related to State of the Union address markets. Regulators determined he misrepresented his attendance status on social platforms while maintaining active positions in those contracts.
During May, federal authorities indicted a Google software engineer for leveraging proprietary search analytics to generate roughly $1.2 million through Polymarket trades. The CFTC simultaneously pursued civil enforcement proceedings in that matter.
Earlier this year, prosecutors also brought charges against a military servicemember over Polymarket positions connected to Venezuelan military operations. A content editor employed by MrBeast lost their position following a Kalshi insider trading investigation.
Both Kalshi and Polymarket implemented enhanced compliance protocols in March 2026, deploying additional verification systems and revising their codes of conduct.
The CFTC continues developing comprehensive regulatory guidelines for prediction markets under Chairman Michael Selig’s leadership. In related developments, a federal appellate court issued an unfavorable ruling for Kalshi regarding its legal conflict with Nevada gaming authorities, determining the company failed to establish federal preemption over state gambling statutes.
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