Trump's teleprompter operator suspended over alleged prediction market bets on speeches
Gabriel Perez, Donald Trump's teleprompter operator, has been placed on unpaid leave after accusations of placing bets on the Kalshi prediction market based on the content of the president's speeches.
A White House employee has been suspended following allegations of improper betting. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez was put on unpaid administrative leave at the president's order and will no longer work at the White House. Leavitt emphasized that the White House has extremely strict ethical guidelines regarding such issues.
The accusations involve Perez allegedly placing bets on the online prediction platform Kalshi, using information about what President Trump would say in public speeches. Robert Denault, Kalshi's head of enforcement, stated that the company's surveillance team promptly flagged, investigated, and referred these trades to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the regulatory body overseeing such matters. Denault added that Kalshi has been assisting regulators and provided all collected evidence.
According to ABC News, Kalshi alerted the CFTC to what it considered suspicious activity, and Perez is currently in settlement talks with the regulator. Perez has operated Trump's teleprompter since 2016.
