Trump Teleprompter Operator Hit With $172,000 Penalty Over Speech Bets

^{Gabriel Perez / Donald Trump}

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has ordered a former Donald Trump teleprompter operator to pay more than $172,000 for using nonpublic information to trade on prediction market platform Kalshi, according to an order issued by the regulator.

Gabriel Perez worked as a technical adviser to Trump and operated the teleprompter during the president’s public appearances. He typically received the text of an upcoming speech about an hour before Trump was due to deliver it.

Kalshi offered markets allowing users to bet on whether Trump would say a particular word or phrase. Perez reviewed the prepared remarks in advance and used their contents to decide whether to buy “yes” or “no” contracts.

He traded in 14 markets linked to Trump’s appearances. Of the 43 contracts he purchased, 39 were profitable, earning Perez a total of $107,539.

The bets covered Trump appearances in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Iowa and Georgia, as well as his speech at the World Economic Forum and his address to Congress. Perez was working at those events.

Under the CFTC order, Perez must give up the full $107,539 in profits and pay an additional $65,000 civil monetary penalty. He is also barred for three years from trading on markets regulated by the CFTC.

The regulator reduced the penalty by 40% because of Perez’s cooperation with the investigation.

Perez voluntarily testified, provided documents and told the CFTC that he made his trading decisions after reviewing the prepared texts of Trump’s speeches.