CFTC fines ex-White House teleprompter operator $172,539 for trading on Trump speeches

Enforcement order and financial penalties

On 28 August 2026, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order requiring former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to pay $172,539 to resolve allegations of illegal prediction market trading. Under the terms of the settlement, Perez must disgorge $107,539.02 in ill-gotten gains and pay a separate civil monetary penalty of $65,000. The regulatory agency also imposed a three-year trading ban on Perez and ordered him to cease and desist from future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and agency rules. The CFTC explained that the $65,000 civil penalty reflected a substantial discount from standard penalties in recognition of Perez's exemplary cooperation during the inquiry. Perez had obtained advance knowledge of speeches prepared for President Donald Trump through his official duties and used that nonpublic material to profit on personal trading accounts.

Teleprompter access and mention market trading

The illicit transactions took place between December 2025 and February 2026 while Perez worked as an electronic teleprompter operator during official presidential events. Perez traded presidential mention market contracts on the regulated prediction exchange Kalshi, where participants buy binary contracts that settle based on real-world outcomes. These specific event contracts paid out based on whether the president uttered designated words, campaign slogans, or names of particular countries during public addresses. Because Perez loaded speech drafts into the electronic teleprompter displays before public delivery, he possessed confidential advance knowledge of the spoken text. The CFTC determined that Perez understood this advance text was confidential, and that his trades misappropriated government information in direct breach of his duty of trust and confidence.

Platform surveillance and regulatory referral

The trading scheme came to light after surveillance analysts at Kalshi detected anomalous betting patterns on presidential mention markets in March 2026. The exchange launched an internal investigation, reviewed internal user account data, and established that the trader was a federal government employee operating White House teleprompters. Kalshi cooperated with the CFTC and alerted the federal regulator to the suspicious trading activity. Kalshi lead attorney Bobby DeNault addressed the regulatory outcome on social media following the formal enforcement action.

It doesn't matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences.

In an earlier statement discussing market integrity in July 2026, the exchange noted the broad macroeconomic sensitivity to statements made by senior government leaders.

The words of political leaders like Presidents and Fed chairs cause billions of dollars of movement in FX markets, oil futures, [and] the stock market.

Administration response and ethics policy

The disclosure of the investigation led to swift administrative fallout within the Executive Office of the President. In July 2026, then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Perez had been placed on unpaid administrative leave and would not return to his White House duties. Perez is no longer employed by the federal government, and he did not respond immediately to requests for comment following the announcement. During the same month, the White House Management Office distributed a formal memo warning administration aides against placing bets on prediction markets. The CFTC settlement resolves the federal regulatory case against Perez, establishing enforceable financial penalties alongside his mandatory three-year exclusion from trading markets.