Quick Summary: Federal Probe Targets White House Aide in Prediction Market Scandal
- Gabriel Perez, a White House teleprompter operator, was placed on leave after being accused of betting on Trump speeches — federal regulators are investigating potential insider trading.
- Kalshi’s surveillance team flagged the suspicious activity, leading to a referral to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — the investigation could reshape how prediction markets are viewed.
- The White House swiftly responded by removing Perez from his role — press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the conduct “a disgrace” and confirmed a new operator for Trump’s speeches.
- Perez allegedly earned over $100,000 from betting on specific words Trump might use — this raises questions about potential insider trading within government ranks.
- Despite warnings issued to staff about such conduct, the scandal highlights possible gaps in internal safeguards — the administration faces scrutiny over its ethical guidelines.
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The White House is embroiled in a scandal that could redefine the boundaries of ethical conduct in government. Gabriel Perez, a trusted teleprompter operator for President Trump, has been placed on administrative leave amid allegations that he exploited his access to presidential speech drafts to place profitable bets on prediction markets.
This controversy erupted when Kalshi, a prediction market platform, identified irregular betting patterns and reported them to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The focus is now on whether Perez’s actions constitute a novel form of insider trading, given his privileged access to nonpublic speech content.
In a swift response, the White House acted decisively by sidelining Perez and replacing him for upcoming speeches. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not mince words, labeling the conduct as “a disgrace” and emphasizing the administration’s commitment to integrity.
This incident has cast a spotlight on the burgeoning market for betting on public figures’ speeches, with traders wagering on specific phrases like “rigged election” or “fake news.” As the investigation unfolds, it could lead to broader implications for how such markets operate and are regulated.
The stakes are high for the administration, as this scandal could expose lapses in enforcing ethical guidelines. The outcome of the investigation will likely influence future policies and the perception of prediction markets in political contexts.
The biggest new development is that the White House confirmed Thursday, July 16, that Gabriel Perez, Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator, has been put on unpaid administrative leave as federal regulators investigate allegations that he used advance access to Trump’s speech texts to win more than $100,000 on Kalshi prediction markets tied to the president’s remarks. According to reporting this week, Kalshi’s own surveillance team flagged the activity and referred it to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Axios reported Thursday that federal regulators are now investigating whether Perez improperly capitalized on his privileged access to prepared presidential remarks.
KPBS reported that, even as the scandal unfolded, Kalshi traders had already wagered more than $800,000 on whether Trump would use words such as “Hormuz,” “rigged election,” or “fake news” in a later address, underscoring how large and liquid these speech-based markets have become. At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered the administration’s sharpest public response so far, calling the conduct “a disgrace” in outside reporting and saying Trump had ordered Perez off the job while the matter is examined.
On Wednesday, July 15, ABC News published the first detailed account of the alleged trades and the size of the profits; on Thursday, July 16, Axios reported that federal regulators were investigating, and later that day the White House confirmed Perez had been sidelined. Multiple outlets say Perez allegedly cleared more than $100,000, while one report translating the figure into Australian dollars pegged it at at least $142,000 Australian.
KPBS said staff received a March memo cautioning against using nonpublic government information to place bets on Kalshi or its competitor Polymarket. The practical question now is whether regulators treat this as a novel prediction-market ethics case or as something closer to classic misuse of material nonpublic information by a federal employee.
In the briefing, she said, “The president believes it’s deeply unfortunate,” and confirmed that a different teleprompter operator would handle Trump’s Thursday night address. A particularly surprising twist is that White House staff had reportedly already been warned about this exact type of behavior.
Perez allegedly earned over $100,000 from betting on specific words Trump might use — this raises questions about potential insider trading within government ranks. Quick Summary: White House teleprompter operator placed on leave after betting on Trump speeches – The Washington Post Gabriel Perez, a White House teleprompter operator, was placed on leave after being accused of betting on Trump speeches — federal regulators are investigating potential insider trading.
According to reporting this week, Kalshi’s own surveillance team flagged the activity and referred it to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Axios reported Thursday that federal regulators are now investigating whether Perez improperly capitalized on his privileged access to prepared presidential remarks. KPBS reported that, even as the scandal unfolded, Kalshi traders had already wagered more than $800,000 on whether Trump would use words such as “Hormuz,” “rigged election,” or “fake news” in a later address, underscoring how large and liquid these speech-based markets have become.
At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered the administration’s sharpest public response so far, calling the conduct “a disgrace” in outside reporting and saying Trump had ordered Perez off the job while the matter is examined. On Wednesday, July 15, ABC News published the first detailed account of the alleged trades and the size of the profits; on Thursday, July 16, Axios reported that federal regulators were investigating, and later that day the White House confirmed Perez had been sidelined.
Despite warnings issued to staff about such conduct, the scandal highlights possible gaps in internal safeguards — the administration faces scrutiny over its ethical guidelines. Multiple outlets say Perez allegedly cleared more than $100,000, while one report translating the figure into Australian dollars pegged it at at least $142,000 Australian.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not mince words, labeling the conduct as “a disgrace” and emphasizing the administration’s commitment to integrity. In the briefing, she said, “The president believes it’s deeply unfortunate,” and confirmed that a different teleprompter operator would handle Trump’s Thursday night address.
The scale and speed of this development has caught many observers off guard. Each new update adds another dimension to a story that is still unfolding, and the full picture will only become clear as more verified details emerge from the people and institutions directly involved.
Analysts who have tracked this issue closely say the current moment represents a genuine turning point. The decisions made in the coming weeks are expected to set the direction for months ahead, with ripple effects likely to extend well beyond the immediate actors in the story.
For those directly affected, the practical impact is already visible. People navigating this fast-changing situation are dealing with real consequences while new information continues to reshape what is known and what remains open to interpretation.
Historical parallels offer some context, though experts caution against drawing too close a comparison. Similar situations have played out before, but the specific combination of pressures, personalities, and timing here makes this moment distinct in ways that matter for how it ultimately resolves.
The political and economic dimensions of this story are deeply intertwined. What appears as a single event on the surface is in practice the convergence of multiple pressures that have been building quietly over a longer period than most public reporting has captured.