Trump suspends White House operator over alleged $100,000 speech betting

A White House teleprompter operator has been suspended following allegations that he used a prediction market to bet on the content of President Donald Trump's speeches, potentially earning over $100,000. Gabriel Perez, who has operated Trump's teleprompter since 2016, allegedly placed bets on specific words or phrases appearing in speeches, including the State of the Union address and remarks at the Davos forum.

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I'm aware of the report, the president is too, I spoke with him about it. He believes it's deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace.

The White House confirmed the suspension, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stating the president believes the situation is "deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace." Perez has been placed on unpaid administrative leave and "will no longer be working at the White House," Leavitt added, emphasizing that the decision was made by the president.

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That was a decision by the president. So I think that speaks for itself.

Prediction market platform Kalshi reported that it alerted its US regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to suspicious activity related to Trump's speeches. Kalshi's head of enforcement, Robert DeNault, confirmed they assisted regulators with evidence. Over $90,000 in profits made by the operator had been frozen in his account, and he is reportedly in settlement talks.

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Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC after an exchange investigation.

The incident raises concerns about insider trading in prediction markets, which face increasing scrutiny in the US and are banned in some other countries. The report emerged just hours before Trump was scheduled to deliver another address, with Leavitt noting that a different teleprompter operator would be used that evening.

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We have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided evidence we collected, as we do in any referral.