In a surprising turn of events, Gabriel Perez, the teleprompter operator for the White House, has reportedly won over $100,000 on the prediction market platform Kalshi. This success is attributed to his insider access to speeches delivered by former President Donald Trump, as reported by ABC News.
According to investigators from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Perez placed bets on more than 12 speeches in the Mentions market, where traders predict specific words and themes in the speeches. This includes a notable bet on Trump's February address regarding the state of the nation.
Perez has been managing the teleprompter since 2016, which allows him to see the texts of the speeches in real-time. Investigators found that he would cancel bets during the speech if Trump skipped over a segment containing a predicted word. Kalshi's monitoring team flagged this suspicious activity and reported it to the CFTC, leading Perez to acknowledge some of his trades.
The parties are currently negotiating terms for Perez to return his profits and refrain from similar betting in the future. The Manhattan District Attorney's office has declined to open a criminal case, while the White House has stated that Perez is fully cooperating with the Commission. Additionally, since June, Kalshi has required users to disclose their employment information.