White House teleprompter operator made more than $100K betting on Trump's speeches: Sources

Key Points:

• Gabriel Perez, President Trump's longtime teleprompter operator, is alleged to have made over $100,000 by betting on Trump's speeches using inside knowledge, according to federal investigators from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
• Perez reportedly placed bets on more than a dozen Trump speeches over a three-month period, including the State of the Union, a Davos speech, and a Medal of Honor ceremony, with some bets adjusted mid-speech based on Trump's deviations from prepared remarks.
• Kalshi, the prediction market platform where the bets were placed, flagged the suspicious trades to the CFTC and has since updated its policies to require users to disclose their employment and prohibits trading based on job-related inside information.
• Perez is cooperating with the CFTC, which is in talks to settle the case, potentially requiring him to forfeit profits and refrain from similar trading, while federal prosecutors declined to open a criminal investigation.
• The White House emphasized strict ethics guidelines for staff and confirmed Perez's cooperation; meanwhile, President Trump has expressed mixed views on prediction markets but supports their operation in the U.S. despite conceptual reservations.