White House aide surrenders $107,539 in prediction-market profits after CFTC order
This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.
The CFTC ordered Gabriel Perez, a White House teleprompter operator, to surrender $107,539.02 in prediction-market profits. Perez also faces a $65,000 civil penalty and a three-year trading ban. The penalty was reduced due to his cooperation, while KalshiEX assisted the investigation.
Key Facts
- Gabriel Perez must surrender $107,539.02 in prediction-market profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty.
- Perez traded presidential 'mention market' contracts between December 2025 and February 2026 while working as a White House teleprompter operator.
- The CFTC found Perez misappropriated material nonpublic information in breach of a duty of trust and confidence.
- KalshiEX flagged and referred the trades to the CFTC, and the agency credited the exchange's assistance.
- The CFTC's penalty was substantially reduced because of Perez's exemplary cooperation.
The CFTC Order
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a settled administrative order against Gabriel Perez, a White House teleprompter operator. The order requires Perez to surrender $107,539.02 in prediction-market profits and pay a $65,000 civil monetary penalty. Perez also accepted a three-year trading ban and a cease-and-desist order. The CFTC said the penalty was substantially reduced because of Perez's exemplary cooperation. The order describes a civil regulatory settlement and does not report a criminal conviction.
Trading on Advance Speech Access
The CFTC found that Perez traded presidential 'mention market' contracts between December 2025 and February 2026 while working as a White House teleprompter operator. These event contracts, which the regulator describes as swaps, settled on whether the President would use particular words or phrases during speeches. Perez saw the speeches before they were delivered, according to the order. The CFTC said he misappropriated that material nonpublic information in breach of a duty of trust and confidence, converting knowledge of the prepared text into more than $107,500 in profit. Other traders were pricing the probability that a phrase would be spoken, while Perez already had access to text that would help determine the outcome.
KalshiEX Assistance and Surveillance
KalshiEX flagged and referred the trades to the CFTC, and the agency's release says it appreciated the exchange's assistance. The CFTC release does not announce charges against the exchange or say the agency found a surveillance failure. The Associated Press reported in July that Kalshi enforcement head Robert DeNault said the exchange's surveillance team 'promptly flagged, investigated and referred' the trades to the CFTC. AP noted that his public statement did not name Perez. The CFTC's final release confirms assistance but does not disclose the detailed timing of Kalshi's review or referral.
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White House aide surrenders $107,539 in prediction-market profits after CFTC order
