White House teleprompter operator on unpaid leave after reports he made more than $100k betting on Trump's speeches

A White House teleprompter operator has been placed on unpaid leave following reports that he used a prediction betting platform to profit from the content of President Donald Trump's speeches.

ABC first reported that Gabriel Perez, who has worked for Trump since his first presidential campaign, is in talks with investigators from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to settle allegations that he used inside knowledge of Trump's speeches to earn more than $100,000 through bets on Kalshi.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a briefing with reporters on Thursday, confirmed that Perez had been placed on unpaid administrative leave at the president's direction following the ABC report.

"Obviously, I'm aware of the report — the president is, too. I spoke with him about it," Leavitt told reporters. "He believes it's deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace. And the individual that was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC, but has been put on paid administrative leave. So there will be a teleprompter operator tonight, of course, but it will not be the one, unfortunately, in that story."

Perez, who earns $175,000 annually as a member of the White House staff, has long been a trusted member of Trump's production team. The president has publicly praised Perez's work in the past, thanking him during campaign events and crediting him with helping keep speeches running smoothly.

Robert DeNault, the head of enforcement for Kalshi, told Business Insider in a statement that the platform's surveillance team flagged and referred the trades to the CFTC after an internal investigation.

Beginning in March, Kalshi's surveillance system identified unusual trades in its "mention markets" tied to specific words in Trump's speeches, leading it to a federal employee who worked as a teleprompter operator. Following the internal investigation, Kalshi froze funds totaling over $90,000 in his accounts before the employee could cash out most of his profits on the platform.

"We have charged this individual and have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided evidence we collected, as we do in any referral," DeNault said.

When reached for comment by Business Insider, White House representatives pointed to Leavitt's public remarks to reporters about the incident and declined to comment further. A CFTC spokesperson refused to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation into Perez.

The case is among the highest-profile allegations involving alleged insider trading on prediction markets, which have exploded in popularity over the past year by allowing users to wager on everything from elections to economic data to the contents of presidential speeches.

Kalshi and other prediction market platforms, such as Polymarket, prohibit users from trading on material nonpublic information. The platforms have increasingly expanded their internal surveillance systems as regulators and lawmakers scrutinize how the markets police potential abuse.

Business Insider previously reported that Kalshi referred former Rep. George Santos to the Justice Department and CFTC after detecting suspicious trades tied to whether he would attend Trump's State of the Union address. Santos has denied wrongdoing.

Business Insider also reported on another case in which a US soldier was indicted on charges of using classified military information to make bets on Polymarket, winning more than $400,000.