Presidential Teleprompter Operator Earned $100K Through Kalshi Wagers on Trump Speech Content: ABC
According to ABC News, a longtime teleprompter technician for President Donald Trump generated profits exceeding $100,000 through wagers on Kalshi prediction markets related to presidential speeches and is currently negotiating a settlement with federal authorities regarding these allegations.
Federal regulators are currently in settlement discussions with a technical assistant who has operated President Donald Trump's teleprompter for years, addressing claims that he leveraged insider information to earn profits through wagers on Kalshi prediction markets focused on presidential speeches, ABC News disclosed on Thursday, referencing sources with knowledge of the situation.
The report identifies Gabriel Perez, who has served as Trump's teleprompter operator beginning in 2016, as the individual who purportedly wagered on over a dozen prediction markets connected to Trump's public addresses, accumulating profits surpassing $100,000.
The platform's surveillance mechanisms flagged Perez's trading activity, prompting Kalshi to forward the questionable transactions to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the news outlet indicated. These betting contracts were offered through Kalshi's "Mentions" marketplace, a feature enabling participants to speculate on the inclusion of specific terms, expressions, or subjects in public addresses.
Sources informed ABC that Perez would occasionally liquidate his positions during speeches when Trump departed from his prepared script, omitting words or phrases that Perez had bet would appear. Federal investigators reportedly identified wagers connected to over a dozen presidential addresses spanning approximately three months, encompassing major events such as the State of the Union address and Trump's appearance at the World Economic Forum.
Following the publication of ABC's report, the White House administration suspended Perez without pay pending further review, according to statements from press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who noted that Trump characterized the alleged behavior as a "disgrace."
Prediction markets confront insider trading scrutiny
The prediction market industry has encountered mounting regulatory examination regarding potential insider trading violations as participation and trading activity have experienced dramatic growth in recent months.
During March, a group of six Polymarket participants collectively profited approximately $1 million after successfully predicting that the United States would conduct military strikes against Iran prior to the conclusion of February, raising concerns about potential access to classified or confidential information. Bloomberg reported, referencing data from analytics company Bubblemaps, that multiple cryptocurrency wallets placed their wagers mere hours before initial reports of explosions emerged from Tehran.
In another distinct occurrence, cryptocurrency wallets generated profits exceeding $1.2 million through wagers on an onchain investigation targeting DeFi platform Axiom in the period immediately preceding blockchain investigator ZachXBT's publication of allegations concerning insider trading involving a company employee.
An additional market participant similarly earned approximately $400,000 through accurate predictions regarding the apprehension of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro moments before the information became publicly available.
These controversial episodes have generated heightened interest from congressional legislators and regulatory agencies. During the previous month, Republican Representative Bryan Steil, serving as chairman of the House subcommittee overseeing digital assets, put forward legislative proposals that would ban members of Congress along with their immediate family members from participating in prediction market contracts related to governmental policy decisions and political events.