Trump teleprompter operator suspended over betting on speeches

Gabriel Pérez, the operator of President Donald Trump's teleprompter, has been suspended without pay after allegedly using his insider knowledge to win nearly $100,000 betting on the content of Trump's speeches on the prediction market Kalshi. The case was uncovered by Kalshi's internal monitoring systems, which flagged suspicious activity and referred it to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Source: AP News.

The Allegations

Pérez, a technical assistant who has operated Trump's teleprompter since 2016, placed bets on the platform's "Mentions" market, where users wager on whether specific words or phrases will appear in a public address Source: ABC News. According to investigators, he used advance access to speech drafts to wager on more than a dozen speeches, including the State of the Union address in February, an appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and a Medal of Honor ceremony Source: CNN. Pérez even modified bets in real time when Trump deviated from the script, retracting positions as the president spoke Source: El Mundo.

The Response

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the suspension, stating that Trump called the situation "a shame" and that "the White House has very strict ethical guidelines that explicitly say you cannot do that" Source: La Vanguardia. Kalshi's chief compliance officer Robert DeNault said the company "quickly detected, investigated and immediately referred these transactions" to the CFTC and is cooperating with regulators Source: Infobae. Pérez is reportedly cooperating and negotiating a civil settlement with the CFTC; no criminal charges have been filed .