Overview
Federal regulators are negotiating a civil settlement with a White House technical assistant who has managed President Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, after reports that the staffer made in excess of $100,000 on the prediction market Kalshi by betting on language he had put into the prompter himself. The developments, first reported by ABC News and cited by other outlets, have focused attention on how privileged government access can be used on event-driven betting platforms.
Allegations and the bets at issue
The employee identified in reports as Gabriel Perez is alleged to have placed wagers tied to more than a dozen of the president’s speeches over a three-month span. Specific events cited include the February State of the Union, a December primetime address, a January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and a March Medal of Honor ceremony. NBC News separately reported that Perez earned more than $90,000 on Kalshi’s "Mentions" market, where users bet on whether particular words or topics are spoken during a public address.
According to reporting, an investigative detail that helped expose the pattern was Perez backing out of bets while speeches were underway when the president departed from prepared remarks and omitted words that Perez had wagered would be spoken. Investigators concluded that Perez’s routine access to last-minute edits - edits tied directly to the material he loaded into the teleprompter - created an information advantage not available to ordinary bettors.
Regulatory response and enforcement path
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission referred the matter to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who ultimately declined to pursue criminal charges. Regulators are now seeking a civil resolution that would require Perez to return his trading profits and to refrain from placing comparable trades going forward. Precise terms of any settlement, including the amount to be disgorged or whether a formal consent order will be issued, have not been disclosed publicly.
Kalshi’s role and internal controls
Kalshi, a prediction market regulated by the CFTC where users place wagers on real-world outcomes, identified the suspicious activity through its monitoring systems before regulators engaged. Kalshi’s lead lawyer, Bobby DeNault, said, "Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC, and we are cooperating and assisting regulators." The company has adjusted its registration policies to require users to disclose their employer.
DeNault also articulated a legal point made earlier in May: "If you have information by virtue of your job or your employment, something that you have a legal duty surrounding, and you have an obligation not to take that, misappropriate it for yourself." That principle underpins the regulator’s view of trades made on the basis of nonpublic information.
White House response and internal guidance
The White House provided a limited public statement but did not explicitly distance the institution from the staffer. Spokesperson Davis Ingle said, "The White House has strict ethics guidelines that we expect all staffers and officials to follow." He added, "The staffer in question is fully cooperating with the CFTC." It is not publicly clear whether the individual remains in the White House role or whether internal disciplinary measures beyond the civil settlement are being considered.
Separately, the White House issued an internal memo in late March warning staffers against using nonpublic information to place bets on prediction markets, a directive reported to have followed earlier accounts of administration personnel exploiting privileged access.
Broader context for prediction markets
This investigation is part of an emerging regulatory posture toward event-contract trading platforms. The New Republic reported a parallel episode in April in which a special forces soldier involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was charged with using classified intelligence to win $400,000 on the prediction market Polymarket. Together, these incidents have informed the CFTC’s stance that using nonpublic government information to trade on prediction markets can amount to insider trading, even when the traded product does not constitute a traditional security.
For Kalshi and other platforms in the sector, the outcome of the Perez settlement will be watched closely. A formal CFTC consent order would establish an enforcement template for insider trading on event-based contract platforms and could prompt stricter know-your-customer rules across the industry. It remains to be seen whether regulators will seek broader mandates, such as requiring employer disclosure industry-wide, or whether lawmakers will intervene as these markets grow in activity and visibility.
Implications for markets and compliance
As prediction markets expand, compliance burdens and surveillance expectations for platforms are likely to rise. Regulators’ civil enforcement approach in this case signals a preference for disgorgement and trading bans over criminal prosecution, at least based on the decisions made by the Manhattan prosecutor’s office here. How precedent is set will influence fintech firms that operate event-driven products and may alter due-diligence practices for platforms and users alike.
Reporting in this piece is based on information contained in public reports and statements attributed to named officials and entities. Exact settlement details and internal disciplinary outcomes have not been made public.