White House employee under investigation for making bets on Trump speeches, sources say

Key Points:

• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating Gabriel Perez, President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator, for potential insider trading on the prediction market site Kalshi, where Perez allegedly made over $90,000 in profits from “mention markets” bets.
• Kalshi flagged Perez’s trades for suspicious activity and referred the case to the CFTC; the profits from these trades have been frozen, and Perez is cooperating with the investigation.
• This marks the first known case of a White House employee being investigated for insider trading on prediction markets, which have recently gained popularity, prompting the White House to issue warnings against misuse of nonpublic information.
• Perez, a trusted aide who works closely with Trump on speeches and is among the highest-paid White House staff, holds the title “deputy assistant to the president and technical advisor” with a 2026 salary of $175,000.
• The White House emphasizes strict ethics guidelines and confirmed Perez’s full cooperation with the CFTC investigation, while the CFTC declined to confirm or deny the probe.