BREAKING: Trump Teleprompter Operator EXPOSED for Illegal Insider Trading
The White House says it holds staff to strict ethics standards. One of Trump’s closest aides had access to the president’s speeches before he delivered them and turned that access into a betting operation.
Gabriel Perez, Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator, is now in settlement talks with federal regulators after allegedly using knowledge of what Trump was about to say to win more than $100,000 on a prediction market.
What He Did
When Trump walked up to deliver his State of the Union address in February, Perez was one of the few people who already knew what the president was going to say. Federal investigators with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission found that Perez placed bets on that speech, and more than a dozen others, on the prediction market Kalshi, using the “Mentions” market where users bet on whether specific words or phrases will be said during a public speech.
Perez has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016. Of all of Trump’s closest aides, he typically has the final eyes on nearly all of the president’s prepared remarks and often takes last-minute edits directly from Trump himself.
He knew what Trump was going to say. He bet on it. He won.
How Specific the Bets Were
This wasn’t a broad hunch. Investigators found that Perez placed bets on more than a dozen Trump speeches over a three-month period, including a December primetime address, a January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and Trump’s March remarks at a Medal of Honor ceremony.
In certain instances, investigators found that Perez would back out of specific bets in real time, mid-speech, when Trump skipped over a portion of the remarks that included a word he had bet would be mentioned.
He was not guessing what the president might say. He was watching the words come up on the prompter, adjusting his bets accordingly, and cashing out when he was right.
How It Came to Light
Kalshi’s surveillance team flagged the suspicious trading activity and referred it to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC, and we are cooperating and assisting regulators,” said Kalshi’s lead lawyer, Bobby DeNault.
Perez sat for an interview with regulators and acknowledged some of the trades, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The CFTC alerted federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who declined to open a criminal case. Regulators have since discussed settlement terms that would require Perez to give back his profits and stop making similar trades.
No criminal charges. A settlement. And he keeps his job.
The White House Response
The White House confirmed the staffer in question is cooperating with the CFTC. “The White House has strict ethics guidelines that we expect all staffers and officials to follow,” said spokesperson Davis Ingle.
Perez continues to serve as one of Trump’s teleprompter operators today. The White House did issue an internal memo in March warning staff against using nonpublic information to place prediction market bets, after Perez’s activity was already under investigation.
Strict ethics guidelines. Enforced by a memo sent out only after the CFTC was already involved. Not enforced by removing the staffer from his post.
This Fits a Larger Pattern
Perez is not the first person close to the Trump administration caught using inside knowledge on a prediction market. The Justice Department has recently brought its first-ever insider trading cases involving prediction markets: one against a special forces soldier who allegedly bet on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro using nonpublic military information, and another against a Google employee who allegedly used internal company data to bet on user search trends.
Kalshi has a policy against using information obtained through one’s job to place bets. Last month, the company began requiring users to disclose their employer.
Insider trading through prediction markets is becoming a recognized pattern of abuse across government, the military, and private industry. In this instance, the alleged inside information belonged to the President of the United States, and the person exploiting it worked steps away from him every single day.
Trump’s Own Comments on Prediction Markets
Trump has occasionally criticized prediction markets, saying in April: “The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino... I was never much in favor of it. I don’t like it conceptually, but it is what it is.” He said he supports allowing companies like Kalshi and Polymarket to operate so the U.S. isn’t “left out in the cold” of the global betting market.
His own social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, announced last October that it was exploring launching its own prediction market.
He says he doesn’t like it conceptually. His company wants to build one. His own teleprompter operator allegedly used it to profit off the president’s private remarks.
The Bottom Line
Gabriel Perez had access to Trump’s speeches before the country heard them. He used that access to place and adjust real-time bets, winning over $100,000. Federal prosecutors declined to charge him criminally. Regulators are working out a settlement. He is still Trump’s teleprompter operator today.
The White House says it holds staff to strict ethics standards.
Those standards apparently do not include losing your job for insider trading on the president’s own words.