A former operator of the White House teleprompter has been ordered to pay $172,000 to settle allegations he used insider information about President Trump’s speeches to profit from a prediction market platform.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said the operator, Gabriel Perez, must pay back the $107,539.02 he made from unlawful trading plus a civil penalty of $65,000.
The prediction market company Kalshi disclosed in July that Mr. Perez had used his position to win around $100,000 by placing bets about what Mr. Trump would say in his speeches. Mr. Perez had access to presidential speeches before they were delivered. He then placed wagers on common words that would appear in the remarks, such as country names and economic terms, the company said.
After the allegations became public, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that she had talked to Mr. Trump about reports that his teleprompter operator had been making money off his speeches on prediction markets and that he had called it a “disgrace.”
“This individual will no longer be here,” she said. “That was a decision by the president.”
As part of the order, Mr. Perez agreed to cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. The commission also imposed a three-year trading ban on Mr. Perez.
