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Trump Teleprompter Operator Fined $172.5K for Speech Betting

Perez must repay $107,539 in profits and pay a $65,000 penalty after using advance access to Trump speech drafts, regulators said.

  • On Friday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to pay $172,539 for using advance access to President Donald Trump's speeches to execute illegal trades on a prediction-market platform.
  • Between December 2025 and February 2026, Perez traded presidential "mention market" contracts on Kalshi, betting on specific words and phrases that would appear in Trump's speeches while working at the White House.
  • The settlement requires Perez to pay a $65,000 civil monetary penalty and surrender $107,500 in profits, with the CFTC noting the penalty reflected a discount for his "exemplary cooperation" with investigators.
  • Perez is no longer employed by the federal government after being placed on unpaid leave; White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the conduct "unfortunate" and "a disgrace."
  • Beyond the monetary fines, Perez received a three-year trading ban and must cease violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, with KalshiEX assisting federal regulators in the matter.
Insights by Ground AI

212 Articles

Lean Left

A White House employee got Donald Trump's speeches in advance – and bet on their content. He agreed to a penalty with a supervisory authority.

·Germany
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Lean Left

If you know in advance what the US President will say, you can make a lot of money with it. A White House employee couldn't resist this temptation. In the end, it wasn't a good deal.

·Hamburg, Germany
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NBC LA broke the news in Los Angeles, United States on Friday, August 28, 2026.
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