The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on August 28 ordered former White House technical adviser and teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to pay $172,539.02 and barred him from trading for three years over trades in Kalshi contracts tied to President Donald Trump’s speeches.
The payment comprises $107,539.02 in disgorged profits and a $65,000 civil monetary penalty, according to the CFTC’s announcement. The order resolves the agency’s action against Perez, whose access to confidential speech material preceded trades in contracts on which words or phrases would be spoken.
Penalty and trading ban
The CFTC’s August 28 order imposed a three-year trading prohibition on Perez and a separate $65,000 civil monetary penalty. The case concerned Kalshi prediction-market contracts, not trades in underlying securities or commodities traditionally associated with insider-trading cases. Those contracts asked whether specified terms would be uttered during Trump speeches, according to The Associated Press.
Speech access and Kalshi trades
Perez traded 14 Trump mention markets on Kalshi between December 2025 and March 2026 after reviewing speeches in advance, the CFTC found. Across that activity, he profited on 39 of 43 contracts.
The agency’s consent order describes advance access to presidential speech text as the informational edge behind the trades. Such access mattered directly because the markets turned on whether particular words or phrases appeared in the president’s public remarks.
The result was a striking concentration of successful positions: 39 winning contracts out of 43, based on the CFTC’s findings. The order does not frame the matter as an assessment of Kalshi’s broader market operations; it addresses Perez’s use of confidential information in these specific contracts.
Cooperation lowered civil penalty
According to the CFTC consent order, Perez voluntarily supplied documents during the investigation and admitted reviewing confidential speeches before trading. The CFTC said his cooperation supported a substantial reduction in the civil monetary penalty; the sanctions include a $65,000 civil penalty, $107,539.02 in disgorgement and a three-year trading ban. Kalshi also assisted the CFTC’s investigation, the Associated Press reported.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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