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A White House employee accused of earning more than $100,000 through prediction market trades linked to US President Donald Trump’s speeches is no longer working for the federal government, turning the case into the latest test of how insider trading rules apply to event contracts.
Gabriel Perez, who had operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, was previously placed on unpaid leave after reports alleged that he used advance knowledge of prepared remarks to trade on Kalshi. A White House official confirmed on July 28 that Perez had left his role but did not say whether he resigned or was dismissed.
🚨 Wild story.
A White House staffer just got fired for insider trading on a prediction market.
Teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez bet on Trump's speech content via Kalshi using insider info.
Made $100K+ before getting caught.
Kalshi's monitoring team flagged it. Now… pic.twitter.com/0idCcQtoDU
— The Moon Show (@TheMoonShow) July 29, 2026
No public enforcement action has been announced against Perez, and the allegations have not been proven in court.
The disputed activity reportedly involved Kalshi’s mentions markets, which allow traders to speculate on whether particular words or phrases will appear in public speeches.
Perez allegedly made profitable trades involving more than a dozen Trump appearances, including the State of the Union address. His access to teleprompter material could become central to whether regulators conclude that the trades relied on material nonpublic information obtained through his employment.
Kalshi said its surveillance team had identified the activity, investigated it, and referred the evidence to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The platform prohibits users from trading on information obtained through their jobs and has begun requiring employment disclosures from participants in certain markets.
The Perez case follows several investigations that have pushed insider trading from a theoretical prediction market risk into an active enforcement priority.
In February, the CFTC disclosed two earlier Kalshi cases. One involved a political candidate trading on his own election contract. The other involved a YouTube editor accused of trading before unreleased videos were published. Kalshi imposed suspensions and financial penalties in both matters.
The scrutiny intensified in April when US authorities brought what legal analysts described as the first federal insider trading case involving event contracts. That case concerned a service member accused of trading on confidential information connected to a US operation involving Venezuela.
Former congressman George Santos is also reportedly under investigation after allegedly betting against his own attendance at the State of the Union. Kalshi froze his account and referred the activity to the CFTC and the Department of Justice.
Earlier cases involved candidates, media workers, and military information. The Perez allegations reach directly into the White House and concern prepared presidential communications, giving the investigation broader political and regulatory significance.
The case may help determine whether existing commodities laws provide sufficient protection or whether Congress needs prediction market-specific restrictions for government employees.
It also creates a reputational test for Kalshi. The platform can point to its surveillance systems as evidence that regulated markets can detect suspicious behavior. However, repeated probes also highlight how easily event contracts can attract participants with privileged knowledge.
As political and government markets expand, the central question is no longer whether insider trading can occur. It is whether exchanges and regulators can identify it quickly enough to preserve confidence in the prices those markets produce.
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