Former White House staffer fined by CFTC for insider trading on prediction markets using advance knowledge of presidential speeches.
Regulation & Gov ·
Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, has agreed to a $172,000 settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over charges that he leveraged advance access to presidential speeches for trading on prediction market contracts. Between December 2025 and February 2026, Perez placed bets on "presidential mention market" outcomes—contracts whose payoffs depend on specific words or phrases used in speeches—and accumulated more than $107,500 in profits by knowing in advance what would be said. The CFTC's order requires him to return $107,539.02 in gains, pay a $65,000 penalty, and accept a three-year ban from trading.
The case reveals systemic vulnerabilities in fast-growing prediction markets, where nonpublic information can translate directly into trading edges. The regulator applied a substantially reduced penalty, citing Perez's cooperation during the investigation and crediting exchange operator Kalshi for its assistance. The incident follows other high-profile insider-trading allegations tied to prediction platforms, including a U.S. soldier charged in connection with alleged trades on military operations and a video editor fired during an investigation at Kalshi earlier this year.
The enforcement action underscores the CFTC's view that event contracts fall under its swap-trading oversight and insider-trading rules. Kalshi has since implemented additional safeguards and worked through a backlog of flagged trades as prediction markets expand into mainstream usage and draw mounting regulatory focus.