Teleprompter Operator Suspended After Cashing In on Trump's Speeches
A teleprompter operator at the White House has been suspended after allegedly profiting from betting on President Donald Trump’s speeches, raking in over $100,000 through insider knowledge, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Technical assistant Gabriel Perez reportedly placed bets on various speeches, including the State of the Union address and a primetime address in December. His betting activities extended to Trump’s January address at the World Economic Forum in Davos and a Medal of Honor ceremony in March.
Leavitt faced repeated questions about measures to prevent other staffers from engaging in similar betting practices but offered no concrete answers. She stated, “There are strict ethical guidelines that explicitly state not to do this,” while admitting she was unaware of any other staff members participating in real-time betting markets.
Perez has been operating Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, as reported by ABC News. Sources familiar with Kalshi’s operations revealed that Perez’s account was frozen after being flagged for irregular activity in March, leaving $90,000 of his earnings unaccounted for.
Robert DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, confirmed that their surveillance team flagged Perez’s trades and referred them to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) following an investigation. “We have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided evidence we collected, as we do in any referral,” he stated.
The CFTC, which oversees Kalshi and other prediction markets, declined to confirm or deny any investigation into Perez. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been a proponent of expanding betting markets nationwide. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, is a significant investor and strategic advisor to Polymarket, a competitor of Kalshi that previously allowed bets on the fate of an American pilot shot down in Iran.
