• Gabriel Perez is under investigation for allegedly betting on words President Trump would use.
• The teleprompter operator made nearly $100,000 in profits on prediction market Kalshi.
• Regulators have frozen his account and he is no longer at the White House.
• Kalshi has raised concerns over potential insider trading and alerted the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
• The White House insists strict ethical guidelines are in place to prevent such actions.

Gabriel Perez, a teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump, is facing an investigation for allegedly making near $100,000 through strategic betting on the prediction market platform Kalshi regarding specific words the President would use during speeches. This investigation comes after Kalshi flagged alarming betting patterns and reported them to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), alleging possible insider trading activity, according to Indiatimes and Reuters.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Perez has been placed on unpaid administrative leave and will no longer work at the White House. She referred to the situation as “deeply unfortunate” and emphasized that the President was informed of the matter, reflecting serious concerns regarding ethical guidelines within the administration. Leavitt outlined that strict protocols exist to prevent conflicts of interest in such scenarios, as reported by BBC and Le Monde.

Investigators from Kalshi established that Perez appeared to leverage insider knowledge by betting on "mention markets," where users wager on specific words or phrases that might be spoken during important addresses, including the State of the Union and other high-profile speeches. His account, from which over $90,000 was to be withdrawn, was frozen by Kalshi before any profits could be cashed out, as noted by multiple sources including Indiatimes and Le Monde.

Kalshi's enforcement head, Robert DeNault, confirmed that they had reported the suspicious activity to the CFTC and are fully cooperating with the inquiry. He stated that their surveillance team quickly flagged Perez’s activities, leading to the ongoing investigation. The scrutiny surrounding prediction markets like Kalshi has intensified due to concerns over regulatory compliance and potential insider trading risks, as reported by Indiatimes and Reuters.