CFTC Fines Ex-White House Aide $172,000 Over Kalshi Trades
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has ordered Gabriel Perez, a former teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump, to pay $172,539.02 after finding he traded on prediction market contracts using advance knowledge of Trump's speeches.
According to the CFTC's August 28, 2026 order, Perez misappropriated material, nonpublic information obtained through his federal government employment and used it to trade presidential mention market contracts on Kalshi between December 2025 and February 2026.
The order requires Perez to disgorge $107,539.02 in trading profits and pay a $65,000 civil monetary penalty, a figure the CFTC said reflects "a substantial discount under the Division of Enforcement's new cooperation advisory because of Perez's exemplary cooperation with the CFTC." A three-year trading ban also applies.
How The Insider Trading Worked
As a teleprompter operator, Perez had access to Trump's speeches before they were delivered. Kalshi's presidential mention markets let traders wager on specific words or phrases the president might say. Kalshi told the CFTC it identified Perez's trading through an internal surveillance investigation and flagged it to the regulator.
"It doesn't matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law, and you will face the consequences," Kalshi Head of Enforcement Robert Denault said in a post on X.
A Kalshi surveillance investigation caught a White House staffer engaging in prohibited trading activity. Today this individual was subjected to penalties by the CFTC and by our exchange.
— robertjdenault (@robertjdenault) August 29, 2026
It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the… pic.twitter.com/fyKFEzcXAv
Second Insider Trading Case Tied To Trump Speech Markets
Perez is the second person penalized by the CFTC over trading tied to Trump's public appearances. Former Congressman George Santos paid $17,500 last month after the regulator found he manipulated a market on whether he would attend the State of the Union address.
Former CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero said the Perez penalty was too lenient. "With this small penalty, the CFTC gave away the chance to send a strong message to deter future insider trading," she said.
The case lands weeks after CFTC Chair Michael Selig publicly denied that Trump speech mention markets existed on a US-regulated platform, despite Kalshi offering them under CFTC oversight. Perez was fired from the White House shortly after his trading came to light. The CFTC has not filed criminal charges against him.
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