Former White House teleprompter operator settles insider trading case fined six-figure sum

Gabriel Perez, a former teleprompter operator at the White House, has been ordered to pay nearly $173,000 and accept a three-year trading ban to settle federal charges that he used advance knowledge of President Donald Trump’s speeches to place profitable bets on the prediction market platform Kalshi. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced the settlement on August 29, 2026, concluding an investigation into insider trading on event-based contracts. According to the CFTC, Perez misappropriated material, nonpublic information obtained through his government position to trade “presidential mention market contracts” on Kalshi between December 2025 and February 2026.