White House teleprompter operator made $100K+ betting on Trump's speeches
3 hours ago
- #Prediction Markets
- #Insider Trading
- #White House Ethics
- Trump's teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez allegedly made over $100,000 betting on Trump's speeches using inside knowledge.
- He placed bets on prediction market Kalshi for more than a dozen speeches, including the State of the Union and other key addresses.
- Kalshi flagged suspicious trades to the CFTC, and Perez is in settlement talks to return profits and avoid similar trades.
- The White House issued a memo warning staff against using nonpublic information for betting, while Perez continues in his role.
- CFTC investigators found Perez sometimes canceled bets mid-speech if Trump skipped certain words he had bet on.
- Federal prosecutors declined to open a criminal case, and the DOJ has brought insider trading cases on prediction markets involving others.
- Trump has criticized prediction markets but supports their operation, and his company considered launching its own market.