Gabriel Perez, a White House teleprompter operator since 2016, is under investigation for using insider information from President Trump’s speeches to place bets on the prediction market platform Kalshi [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. Perez allegedly made more than $90,000 and up to nearly $100,000 in profits by betting on which words and phrases Trump would say during events such as the State of the Union address in February, the World Economic Forum in January, and a Medal of Honor ceremony in March [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11].
Kalshi detected unusual betting patterns related to Trump’s public speeches in March and alerted the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), prompting the investigation [1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9]. Kalshi froze Perez's account and blocked his access to most of the winnings [1, 3, 5, 6, 9]. Robert DeNault, head of enforcement at Kalshi, said, "Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission after an exchange investigation. We have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided evidence we collected" [1, 7].
Perez holds the official title of deputy assistant to the president and technical adviser, with a reported 2026 salary of $175,000 [4, 8]. Following reports of insider trading allegations, the White House placed Perez on unpaid administrative leave and announced he will no longer work there, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said [1, 2, 3, 5, 11]. Leavitt added, "Trump believes it’s deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace" and noted there are "very strict ethical guidelines here at the White House that explicitly state not to do this" [2]. Another White House spokesperson, Davis Ingle, confirmed Perez is cooperating fully with the CFTC investigation [11].
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to open a criminal case at this time [1, 3, 7, 9]. Perez has reportedly been in talks to settle with regulators, including possibly returning the profits [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11]. The White House issued a memo on March 24 warning staff not to use nonpublic information for trading on prediction markets [8].
Kalshi first identified unusual betting activity on Trump's speeches in March 2026 and notified the CFTC [1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9]. The White House placed Perez on unpaid leave in mid-July after the allegations surfaced [2, 4, 11]. Perez has cooperated with regulators throughout the year and entered settlement discussions in 2026 [1, 9, 10, 11].
