White House aide turned secret speech text into $107k on prediction markets before CFTC stepped in

According to CryptoSlate, a settled Commodity Futures Trading Commission order requires former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to surrender $107,539.02 in prediction-market profits. The order also imposes a $65,000 civil monetary penalty, a cease-and-desist order, and a three-year trading ban.

The CFTC found that Perez traded presidential mention-market contracts between December 2025 and February 2026. Working as a teleprompter operator, Perez had advance access to presidential speeches and misappropriated material nonpublic information in breach of a duty of trust and confidence. The event contracts settled on whether the President would use particular words or phrases during speeches.

The regulatory release credited KalshiEX with assistance in the matter, though the record does not prove the platform's safeguards were timely during the trading period. Kalshi later introduced controls including risk scoring and employment verification following the trades. The reported materials outline a civil regulatory settlement and do not detail a criminal conviction.