The CFTC came down on a former White House teleprompter operator Thursday. More than $172,000 in penalties. The offense: trading Kalshi “mention markets” on advance access to President Trump’s prepared remarks.
Gabriel Perez will disgorge $107,539.02 in profits. Another $65,000 in civil fines. The settlement marks the commission’s second insider-trading case against a federal employee over event contracts in about four weeks. Also the second to surface from a Kalshi referral. (The Block)
The order bars Perez from any CFTC-registered entity for three years. He consented without admitting the findings. The civil penalty came down roughly 40%. Perez sat for an interview voluntarily. Accepted responsibility. The CFTC called it “exemplary cooperation.” KalshiEX drew credit from the commission for its assistance in the matter.
“It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences,” Kalshi head of enforcement Robert DeNault said on X.
Same week, different front. The Ninth Circuit ruled against Kalshi in its fight with Nevada gaming regulators. The company had argued federal commodities law preempts the state’s gambling rules. The court said no. The holding narrows Kalshi’s jurisdictional shield at the state level. Leaves it intact federally. (The Block)
Now back to the teleprompter. Perez opened a Kalshi account on Dec. 8, 2025, the CFTC’s consent order said. He traded between December 2025 and March 2026. The setup was straightforward. Perez read the president’s prepared remarks roughly an hour before delivery. Then he placed bets on Kalshi’s mention markets. Those are contracts that attempt to predict specific words public figures will use in addresses, based on the words in the text. Whoever held the teleprompter held a one-hour head start on the market.
The Perez case follows the CFTC’s July 31 settlement with former congressman George Santos. About $35,000 to resolve Kalshi trades on who would attend February’s State of the Union address. (The Block) Santos made misrepresentations about his own attendance on social media while holding positions in the market. Both orders carry three-year trading bans. Both grew out of Kalshi referrals. The distinction matters. Santos manipulated a contract he could influence. Perez traded on information he saw before the public did.
The pattern stretches past Kalshi. May: federal prosecutors charged Google engineer Michele Spagnuolo with using internal search data to make about $1.2 million on Polymarket. The CFTC filed a parallel civil complaint. (The Block) That same month, House Oversight Chairman James Comer opened a probe into insider-trading controls at both Kalshi and Polymarket. Requested documents on identity verification, geoblocks, and suspicious-activity detection. (The Block)
Both exchanges tightened controls in March 2026. Added screening tools and updated conduct rules. (The Block) The CFTC, under Chair Michael Selig, proposed a rules framework for prediction markets on June 10. (The Block) Still a proposal.
