Trump’s Teleprompter Operator Made $100K Betting on Kalshi Using Insider Knowledge

TLDR

• Gabriel Perez, Trump’s teleprompter operator since 2016, allegedly made over $100,000 on Kalshi prediction markets using insider knowledge of Trump’s speeches.
• Perez bet on “Mentions” markets — contracts tied to whether specific words or phrases would appear in Trump’s speeches.
• He allegedly exited bets mid-speech when Trump skipped prepared passages, according to ABC News sources.
• Kalshi’s surveillance team flagged the trades and referred the matter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
• The White House placed Perez on administrative leave; Trump called the alleged conduct a “disgrace.”

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Gabriel Perez has operated President Donald Trump’s teleprompter since 2016. He knows what Trump is supposed to say before Trump says it. According to ABC News, he used that knowledge to make money.

🚨 IT’S OFFICIAL: President Trump has placed his speech teleprompter operator on LEAVE WITHOUT PAY while they’re being investigated for making allegedly $90K on Kalshi by betting on Trump’s speeches

“I spoke with him about it. He believes it’s deeply unfortunate and frankly a… pic.twitter.com/vDqqoB3Bqs

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 16, 2026

ABC News reported Thursday that Perez is in talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over allegations he placed bets on Kalshi — a regulated prediction market platform — using nonpublic information about Trump’s speeches.

The platform’s “Mentions” markets let users bet on whether specific words or topics will come up in public speeches. Perez allegedly bet on more than a dozen speeches over roughly three months. That includes Trump’s State of the Union address and a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.

He reportedly made more than $100,000 in profits from these trades.

How the Bets Worked

Perez would have known what words Trump was scheduled to say. When Trump deviated from the teleprompter — something he does often — Perez allegedly adjusted his bets in real time, pulling out of positions mid-speech when prepared passages were skipped.

Kalshi spotted the trading activity through its internal surveillance systems. The company quickly flagged the trades and referred the matter to the CFTC. A CFTC spokesperson said the agency “can’t confirm or deny an investigation.”

The White House placed Perez on administrative leave following the report. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump called the alleged behavior “deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace.”

A Growing Problem for Prediction Markets

This case lands at a time when prediction markets are facing wider scrutiny over insider trading.

In January, a U.S. Army soldier was charged with using confidential information to place a $400,000 bet on Polymarket about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. In May, a Google software engineer was charged with using internal company search data to make $1.2 million on Polymarket.

Earlier this year, six Polymarket traders made roughly $1 million betting that the U.S. would strike Iran before the end of February — hours before news broke of explosions in Tehran.

Lawmakers have responded. Republican Representative Bryan Steil introduced legislation in June to block members of Congress and their families from trading prediction market contracts tied to political outcomes. The Senate has also banned itself from trading on these platforms.

Both Kalshi and Polymarket say they have introduced measures to prevent insider trading. The Perez case is now the latest test of how seriously those measures are being enforced.