Former White House Aide Fined $172,539 for Trading Using Nonpublic Speech Information
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has fined Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, $172,539 for using nonpublic information from President Donald Trump's speeches to make illegal trades on the prediction-market platform Kalshi between December 2025 and February 2026. Perez was required to repay over $107,500 in profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty as part of a settlement with the CFTC. The agency stated that Perez traded contracts based on whether Trump would mention specific phrases or words during his speeches—information he had access to before it was made public. The CFTC emphasized that this constituted insider trading and violated federal regulations, leading to a three-year ban from trading for Perez. He has since been placed on unpaid leave and no longer works in the federal government. The penalty amount was reduced due to his cooperation with investigators, while KalshiEX also assisted during the inquiry.
Topics: commodities fraud government_employees