CFTC Settles Insider Trading Claims Against Former Trump Teleprompter Operator Gabriel Perez for Kalshi Trades

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has ordered a former White House teleprompter operator to disgorge all profits and pay a civil penalty for using nonpublic information from President Donald Trump‘s prepared remarks to trade on Kalshi prediction markets. Gabriel Perez traded 43 Trump mention contracts and profited on 39 of them, generating $107,539.02. He will pay a $65,000 penalty and accept a three-year trading ban under the settlement.

Perez worked as a technical adviser to Trump and operated the teleprompter during public appearances. That role gave him access to prepared remarks about an hour before delivery. Perez opened his Kalshi account on Dec. 8, 2025, and concentrated his activity on sports and Trump mention markets, including the State of the Union address, World Economic Forum appearance, National Prayer Breakfast, and speeches in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Iowa and Georgia.

He admitted reviewing the speeches and using the details to buy “Yes” or “No” contracts on specific words or phrases. On one occasion Perez reversed his position after Trump skipped a section containing a traded word. The CFTC found the information was confidential and that federal ethics rules bar employees from using nonpublic government information for private financial gain.

Reduced Penalty for Extraordinary Cooperation

Perez voluntarily submitted to an interview almost immediately and provided documents. The CFTC credited this “extraordinary cooperation” with an approximately 40% reduction in the civil penalty. That reduction exceeded the 25% generally available under the agency’s new enforcement cooperation policy. The settlement resolves an investigation that became public in July. Perez was placed on administrative leave and later left the federal government after reports of his trading surfaced, as reported by Gambling Insider.

Rising Federal Actions on Prediction Market Abuses

This case adds to multiple CFTC enforcement matters involving prediction markets. In July the agency ordered former U.S. Rep. George Santos to pay approximately $35,000 after he manipulated a Kalshi contract tied to his attendance at Trump’s State of the Union. The CFTC has also pursued two major insider trading cases on Polymarket this year, including charges against U.S. Army servicemember Gannon Ken Van Dyke for allegedly using classified information about a military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro to generate more than $404,000 in profits. The following month it charged Google employee Michele Spagnuolo with using nonpublic information about Google’s 2025 Year in Search results to make around $1.2 million on related contracts.

Federal authorities are preparing additional insider trading cases, including potential charges this fall against a U.S. servicemember and a KPMG employee. The pattern shows the CFTC applying existing rules to prediction platforms without creating new ones. The open question is whether heightened enforcement will prompt platforms and participants to tighten internal controls before more matters reach settlement or litigation.

Reporting: Gambling Insider

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