• Gabriel Perez fined $172,000 for trading based on insider information from Trump’s speeches.
• Perez must repay over $107,000 in profits and faces a three-year trading ban.
• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission cited his collaboration as a reason for a penalty reduction.

Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, has been ordered to pay over $172,000 due to illegal trading activities using inside information related to President Donald Trump's speeches. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the settlement, which includes returning $107,539.02 in profits and paying a civil penalty of $65,000, along with a three-year ban from trading on prediction markets, according to Reuters and CBS News.

Perez's misconduct involved trading "mention market" contracts on Kalshi between December 2025 and February 2026, where he predicted certain words would be used in President Trump's speeches. The CFTC concluded that Perez "misappropriated" his access to advance information in violation of his responsibilities, reports South China Morning Post and BBC. He was placed on unpaid leave following the revelation of his actions, and while the White House did not comment immediately, former press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously described the situation as "deeply unfortunate."

The CFTC noted that Perez's civil penalty was lower due to his "exemplary cooperation" during the investigation. Kalshi, the predictive market platform involved, also played a role by identifying unusual trading patterns that led to the investigation and subsequent referral to the CFTC, according to India Times and CBS News.