A White House teleprompter operator has been placed on paid leave after allegedly earning more than $90,000 from Kalshi bets tied to words President Donald Trump would use in his speeches.
Summary
- The CFTC is investigating Gabriel Perez over more than $90,000 in reported Kalshi profits.
- Kalshi froze most of the gains after flagging bets tied to Trump’s speeches as suspicious.
- The case comes as Trump Media begins selling real-time Truth Social data to financial firms.
According to an ABC News report, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating Gabriel Perez over trades placed in Kalshi’s “mentions” markets, where users bet on whether Trump will use certain words or discuss specific topics during public appearances.
Perez has reportedly worked on Trump’s speeches since the 2016 presidential campaign, giving him direct access to prepared remarks before they were delivered. Sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News that the CFTC identified bets linked to Trump’s State of the Union address.
Over three months, Perez allegedly traded contracts connected to more than a dozen presidential appearances. ABC News reported that the events included a December prime-time address, Trump’s January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos and his March remarks at a Medal of Honor ceremony.
Kalshi froze most of the disputed profits
Kalshi flagged the activity as suspicious, froze most of Perez’s reported gains and referred the matter to the CFTC, according to ABC News. The report said Perez has acknowledged some of the trades and is cooperating with the regulator’s inquiry.
Federal prosecutors, however, declined to open a criminal investigation into the betting activity, ABC News reported. The CFTC’s review remains focused on whether Perez used nonpublic information while trading event contracts on the regulated prediction market.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the investigation during a press briefing and said President Trump knew about the case. Describing the president’s reaction, Leavitt said he “believes it’s deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace.”
Leavitt also confirmed that Perez had been placed on paid administrative leave while cooperating with the CFTC. According to the press secretary, another operator would handle the teleprompter for Trump’s scheduled address that evening.
Prediction markets have faced another case involving alleged access to restricted government information. In April, the Department of Justice charged a U.S. soldier with using classified material to trade Polymarket contracts linked to the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Political posts are gaining value as trading data
Trump’s scheduled remarks already had mentions of markets available, including contracts linked to whether he would reference China. Leavitt said the address would cover the administration’s findings on alleged foreign interference in the 2020 election, adding that Trump’s statements would be supported by evidence.
The investigation has emerged as political statements become a paid source of market data. As previously reported by crypto.news, Trump Media & Technology Group has introduced the Truth API, a licensed service that will send real-time Truth Social posts from high-ranking accounts to financial firms, data providers and news organizations.
Trump Media said subscribers would receive immediate access to public posts that could contain time-sensitive political, policy or market information. Interim CEO Kevin McGurn described the product as an alternative to unauthorized data scraping and said trading firms could use it to monitor influential accounts.
“Markets already move on Truth Social posts,” McGurn said.
While Trump Media expects the API to produce recurring revenue, the Perez investigation concerns a separate issue: whether someone with advance access to presidential remarks used that information to profit from Kalshi contracts.
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