Trump teleprompter operator settles insider trading case for $172,000

Aug 29, 2026

Former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez has agreed to pay $172,539 to settle a Commodity Futures Trading Commission probe. Perez allegedly used advance access to President Donald Trump's speeches to place 49 illegal trades on Kalshi's prediction markets, winning 39 of them. Under the settlement, Perez will pay a $65,000 fine, return $107,539 in profits, and face a three-year trading ban. Perez has since left federal employment following public condemnation from Trump.

Perez insider trading settlement

▪Under the settlement, Gabriel Perez will pay a $65,000 civil monetary penalty and return $107,539.02 in illicit profits without admitting or denying the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's claims
▪Gabriel Perez agreed to a three-year trading ban and a cease-and-desist order from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulations
▪White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez agreed to pay more than $172,000 to settle a Commodity Futures Trading Commission probe into alleged insider trading on prediction markets

Prediction market trading scheme

▪Gabriel Perez placed 49 trades on Kalshi's mention markets and won 39 of them, earning over $107,000 based on confidential speech information
▪Gabriel Perez used advance access to President Donald Trump's speeches to trade presidential "mention market" contracts on the Kalshi prediction platform between December 2025 and February 2026

CFTC enforcement action

▪The insider trading case against Gabriel Perez is the first known instance of a White House employee allegedly involved in an insider trading scheme on prediction markets
▪The Commodity Futures Trading Commission stated that Gabriel Perez received a substantial discount on his $65,000 fine due to his exemplary cooperation with the investigation
▪Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero criticized the $65,000 fine as a missed opportunity to deter future insider trading at the highest level of government

White House employment status

▪In July 2026, the White House stated that President Donald Trump thought Gabriel Perez's actions were "frankly a disgrace."
▪Gabriel Perez, who traveled and worked with President Donald Trump for a decade, was placed on unpaid leave during the inquiry and is no longer working for the federal government

Kalshi detection reporting

▪The prediction platform Kalshi imposed its own three-year ban against Gabriel Perez following the detection of his prohibited trading activity
▪Kalshi's head of enforcement, Bobby DeNault, stated that the prediction company caught Gabriel Perez's prohibited trading activity and reported it to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission