Federal officials probe whether White House teleprompter profited off Trump's words

Federal regulators are currently in settlement talks with a longtime White House staffer over allegations of insider trading. Gabriel Perez, who served as a teleprompter operator for President Trump, is under investigation for his activity on the prediction market site Kalshi.

Investigators suspect Perez used his proximity to the president to bet on specific words or phrases used in public remarks. These events are traded as mention markets on the platform where users wager on the vocabulary of public figures. Sources indicate that Perez allegedly made nearly 100,000 dollars through this practice before the site’s surveillance tools identified unusual betting patterns tied to his account.

This incident marks the first instance of a White House employee facing an investigation for exploiting government access to profit on prediction platforms. While White House staff received a clear memo in March prohibiting the use of nonpublic government information for such bets, the investigation highlights the risks inherent in the rapidly growing prediction market sector. Kalshi has since frozen approximately 90,000 dollars of the profits associated with his account and banned him from the site.

President Trump’s press secretary addressed the situation on Thursday, confirming that Perez is on unpaid administrative leave. The White House described the alleged actions as a disgrace. While it remains unclear if the Department of Justice will pursue criminal charges, the case adds to a series of federal probes into prediction market abuse, including recent investigations into corporate employees and public officials.