A White House teleprompter operator will pay more than $172,000 to end a federal regulator’s probe into alleged well-timed prediction market bets about President Donald Trump’s speeches. Gabriel Perez agreed to pay a $65,000 penalty to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and return more than $107,000 in illicit profits without admitting the financial regulator’s claims that he misappropriated inside information to rack up wins on the prediction market platform Kalshi.\n\nThe settlement resolves allegations that Perez used non-public information about Trump’s scheduled remarks to gain an unfair advantage in trading event-based contracts. By returning profits and accepting the penalty, Perez avoids further litigation while the CFTC concludes its investigation into potential insider trading violations.\n\nThe case highlights growing regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets and the risks associated with leveraging privileged access to political events for financial gain.

Perez’s cooperation allowed for a resolved outcome without formal admission of wrongdoing under the terms of the agreement.