FORMER WHITE HOUSE TELEPROMPTER OPERATOR ORDERED TO PAY £127,000 FOR...

Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, has been ordered to surrender more than £127,000 following a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The regulator found that Perez used inside knowledge of President Donald Trump's speeches to place bets on a prediction markets platform called Kalshi between December 2025 and February 2026. The settlement requires Perez to forfeit profits of £79,452 and pay a civil penalty of £48,000, and imposes a three-year ban on trading.

The CFTC said Perez "misappropriated" his prior knowledge of Trump's speeches to place bets "in breach of his duty of trust and confidence". Kalshi operates contracts known as "mention markets", where users predict whether a speaker will use specific words, phrases, countries or campaign slogans. The company's analysts noticed unusual betting activity on these contracts in March and subsequently identified the user as a federal employee operating White House teleprompters, which it reported to the regulator. In July, the White House placed Perez on unpaid leave; a White House official said he was no longer in his position but did not confirm whether he had resigned or been dismissed.

The CFTC reduced Perez's civil penalty due to his "exemplary co-operation" with the investigation. In July, the White House Management Office sent a letter to aides instructing them not to place bets on prediction markets. Kalshi's lead lawyer Bobby DeNault said the settlement demonstrated that "it doesn't matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences". The White House has not yet commented on the settlement announcement.