Officials probe whether White House teleprompter operator profited off Trump's words

Officials probe whether White House teleprompter operator profited off Trump's words. It's the first known instance of officials investigating suspected insider trading on a prediction market from inside the White House.

Federal regulators are in settlement talks with President Trump's longtime teleprompter operator, who is alleged to have made nearly $100,000 on the prediction market site Kalshi, according to two people with knowledge of the probe. He is suspected of profiting off of his access to the president's prepared remarks on a type of betting on Kalshi known as "mention markets," where people wager on words and expressions the president will or will not say during public events.

The markets have exploded in growth in recent months, leading to several instances of high-profile insider trading. But this marks the first time someone inside the White House has been investigated for allegedly abusing that access for prediction market profits.

Gabriel Perez, who has worked for the president since 2016, is now negotiating with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Records show that as a deputy assistant to the president, Perez was paid $175,000 a year. Trump would sometimes make references to him during appearances, like a 2024 campaign stop in Reno. "I have a guy, Gabe, he's excellent. I've had some real bad ones, but I have Gabe," Trump said. "No, a good one is really like gold."

Ahead of Trump's address to the nation later on Thursday, Kalshi traders have already wagered more than $800,000 on whether the president will say words like "Hormuz," or "rigged election," or "fake news."

Perez is currently on unpaid administrative leave, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday, calling the actions "a disgrace." Kalshi froze about $90,000 of Perez's profits and he has been banned from betting on the site, one of the sources said.

Using non-public information to win big or manipulate markets on Kalshi is prohibited by the platform's rules. Such behavior could also be criminally prosecuted as wire fraud, commodities fraud and money laundering. It is not clear if the Department of Justice is examining the case of Perez. In March, White House staff received a memo warning against using nonpublic government information to place bets, stating that misusing government information "is a very serious offence and will not be tolerated."

In April, federal prosecutors charged a U.S. Army special forces soldier for making $400,000 on Polymarket ahead of the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The following month, a Google software engineer was charged with using confidential company information to make $1.2 million on Polymarket. Others have been under investigation, including former Republican congressman George Santos, who investigators say pumped up a Kalshi market by claiming he would attend Trump's 2026 State of the Union address, only to cash out on a "no" trade when he skipped it.