A former White House teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, has been ordered to turn over more than $100,000 in profits and pay a $65,000 fine for using inside information to place bets on the Kalshi prediction market. This was announced as part of a settlement with federal authorities, according to infohub.kz.
The settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced on Friday, also imposed a three-year trading ban on Perez. Perez was placed on unpaid leave from his White House job after reports emerged that he used his position to bet on what words President Donald Trump would say in his speeches.
The White House did not immediately comment on the settlement. A White House official said in July that Perez was no longer in his position but did not specify whether he was fired or resigned.
The commission found that Perez made $107,500 on prediction markets by betting on words and phrases that would appear in Trump's speeches between December 2025 and February 2026.
"In his position, Perez had access to presidential speeches prior to those speeches being delivered and misappropriated that information — in breach of his duty of trust and confidence," the commission said in a release.
Perez was ordered to repay his profits in full, along with the $65,000 civil penalty, which the commission said was reduced because of his "exemplary cooperation."
As details emerged on July 16, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the incident "unfortunate" and "a disgrace."