Settlement of CFTC Prediction‑Market Probe
Gabriel Perez, who served as the White House teleprompter operator, resolved a federal investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) concerning the use of non‑public presidential speech information to place wagers on the prediction‑market platform Kalshi. Under the settlement, Perez agreed to pay a civil penalty of $65,000 and to surrender $107,000 in winnings that he had earned from the bets.
The CFTC stated that Perez had “misappropriated” advance knowledge of President Donald Trump’s speeches and used that information to trade. Kalshi had flagged Perez’s betting activity earlier in the year, conducted an internal interview, subsequently froze his account, and retained more than $90,000 of his profits before referring the case to the CFTC. As part of the agreement, Perez is barred for three years from directly or indirectly accessing Kalshi.
The White House indicated that it was unaware of Perez’s wagers and reiterated its policy warning staff against using information obtained through government roles for prediction‑market betting.
The settlement occurs amid a broader U.S. regulatory focus on prediction‑market trading. Federal prosecutors earlier charged a U.S. soldier with using classified information to place bets exceeding $400,000 on Polymarket regarding Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s removal, and authorities are preparing potential charges against another servicemember alleged to have earned more than $1 million from bets tied to military strikes in Iran and Venezuela. Additionally, a KPMG employee is under investigation for wagers on a public company’s quarterly earnings, though no final decision has been announced.