Things you may never have thought of before: a President of the United States has his own teleprompter guy. For Donald Trump, since 2016, that man has been Gabriel Perez, who now stands accused of profiting by over $100,000 from trades on Kalshi that forecast the content of Trump’s upcoming speeches.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which oversees Kalshi futures contracts, uncovered the activity after the platform flagged unusual patterns tied to more than a dozen speeches delivered over a three-month stretch. Perez now sits in settlement discussions with regulators who want him to return his ill-gotten gains and cease all trading immediately.
Having reviewed scripts days or hours ahead of events and then scrolling the text in real time while Trump speaks, Perez held a front-row seat to every intended phrase of the President. Sources familiar with the probe told ABC News that this access allowed him to anticipate content with precision that ordinary traders could not match. The White House, which has previously notified all employees to stay off prediction markets, has stated that Perez remains fully cooperative with the inquiry.
Unique Position Gives Operator Advance Insight into Every Prepared Address
Perez loads full scripts of President Trump’s speeches into the teleprompter system well before each appearance, incorporating last-minute edits from Trump or senior aides. Perez positions the teleprompter equipment, tests backup systems, and listens intently during delivery to match the president’s pace and improvisations. This process repeats for nearly every public event and creates constant, intimate familiarity with the intended content long before the public hears it. This is not an unimportant job at this level. If you’ve ever seen a politician with a failed teleprompter, you know the consequences can be embarrassing.
Campaign records show Perez joined the White House operation after a simple online search connected Trump’s advance staff to his prompting company in 2016. He quickly became the trusted handler for high-stakes public moments, managing two screens simultaneously while Trump moved between policy points and, of course, his regular and often lengthy off-script comments. Former colleagues have described the pressing need for split-second decisions whenever the president shifts topics mid-sentence.
During lengthy events such as joint addresses to Congress, Perez must track dozens of planned applause lines and adjust the scroll speed accordingly. Any deviation by Trump requires immediate manual intervention to keep the text flowing smoothly. These mechanics place Perez in a position of repeated pre-event exposure to speeches that few other staff members share. He’s a truly inside guy.
That level of access and Perez’s continuity in the role underscores how central his position remains to the smooth execution of presidential communications and how that same access now factors into the current regulatory review.
Pattern of Trades Spans State of the Union and More Than a Dozen Other Addresses
Investigators traced trades to more than a dozen speeches between December 2025 and March 2026. One prominent example involved the February State of the Union address, during which Perez allegedly positioned Kalshi trades around specific phrases and topics that appeared in the prepared text.
Another set of trades focused on a December primetime address. Separate activity surrounded Trump’s January remarks at the World Economic Forum gathering and his March comments during a Medal of Honor ceremony. In several instances, records show Perez exited certain positions mid-speech after Trump skipped sections that had formed the basis of earlier trades. Only a small handful of people could possibly know that the President was skipping these sections of his prepared speech.
The consistent thread across these events lies in Perez’s pre-speech review of the full script. Having absorbed the planned language, he could identify high-probability mentions with greater certainty than external observers. Sources indicated the trades produced steady returns even when Trump ad-libbed around the margins of the prepared material. Perez would know Trump-speak perhaps better than anybody. Which itself could merely be an analytical skill of other traders in the market, were it not also for his obvious inside access.
Prosecutors in Manhattan reviewed the CFTC referral yet declined to pursue criminal charges against Perez. Reasons for that are not fully known. Civil regulators instead moved toward a negotiated resolution that would require Perez to relinquish the more than $100K and accept restrictions on future trading. The agency continues to examine whether similar patterns exist in other staff activities.
Kalshi Surveillance System Flags Activity and Prompts Full CFTC Probe
As we’ve covered numerous times on PolyPunter, Kalshi and similar platforms operate robust systems for flagging suspicious trading activity. These have led to multiple cases forwarded to the CFTC and several, ultimately turned over to prosecutorial authorities for charges.
Kalshi’s monitoring team identified the cluster of trades linked to Perez’s account and promptly escalated the information to the CFTC. Company lead counsel Bobby DeNault confirmed that surveillance protocols captured the activity and that Kalshi has fully cooperated with the ensuing review. The platform maintains clear, publicly available rules barring users from trading on information obtained through their employment. There are now certain markets where traders must pre-disclose their employers as part of a KYC process for trading in sensitive topics, like politics.
During his interview with CFTC staff, Perez acknowledged executing several of the trades in question. Investigators pieced together timelines showing the sequence of script reviews, trade placements, and speech deliveries. The pattern suggested systematic use of nonpublic details rather than random market participation.
Consequently, regulators proposed settlement terms focused on disgorgement of the profits and a prohibition on comparable future conduct. This is the typical consequence in cases where prosecutors decline criminal charging. Perez has not publicly commented on the allegations beyond his cooperation statement issued through White House channels. The absence of a criminal referral keeps the matter in the civil enforcement lane, for now.
White House Reinforces Ethics Guidelines While Settlement Talks Continue
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle stated that strict ethics rules apply to every staffer and official. The administration expects full compliance and has confirmed that Perez continues to cooperate with regulators. This response aligns with longstanding requirements that bar personal use of privileged government information. That prediction platforms are relatively new; the rules on profiting from information gained working at the White House are not.
Having operated the teleprompter through multiple administrations and campaign cycles, Perez occupies one of the most consistent behind-the-scenes positions in presidential communications. The current investigation tests whether that expertise crossed into prohibited territory.
Meanwhile, the CFTC has signaled willingness to resolve the matter through settlement rather than prolonged litigation. There has been no specific mention of whether or not Perez retains his White House role while talks proceed, with the President scheduled to address the nation this very night (July 16).
Broader questions now surface about how other aides with comparable pre-event access manage similar information. The White House memo issued in March serves as a clear reminder that nonpublic details tied to official duties must remain off-limits for personal trading decisions. Regulators appear determined to enforce those boundaries going forward.
References
1. ABC News: White House teleprompter operator made more than $100K betting on Trump’s speeches: Sources
2. NBC News: Trump teleprompter aide flagged for alleged Kalshi bets
3. CNBC: Teleprompter operator allegedly made Kalshi bets on Trump statements; CFTC investigating
4. Politico: ‘I wouldn’t want that job’: Meet Trump’s teleprompter man
5. Mediaite: Trump’s Teleprompter Operator Busted for Betting on Speeches
6. TMZ: Trump Teleprompter Operator Allegedly Won Over $100K Betting on Speeches
7. ABC17: Trump’s teleprompter operator under investigation for insider trading, sources say
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