A longtime White House technical assistant who has operated President Trump’s teleprompter since his historic 2016 campaign has been suspended after allegedly running a lucrative insider betting scheme.
Federal regulators are reportedly in settlement talks with Gabriel “Gabe” Perez over shocking allegations that he pocketed more than $100,000 on the prediction market Kalshi.
According to ABC News, Perez used his high-level security clearance and direct access to the presidential speech drafts to wager on Kalshi’s highly popular “Mentions” market.
These prediction markets allow users to bet on whether specific words or phrases like “rigged election,” “fake news,” or geopolitical terms will be spoken aloud by the President during a public address.
Because Perez loaded the speeches onto the teleprompter himself, he allegedly knew exactly what President Trump was going to say before the rest of the world.
According to ABC News, citing sources familiar with the matter, investigators uncovered instances in which Perez allegedly backed out of bets mid-speech after President Trump skipped a section that contained a word Perez had wagered would be mentioned.
Our sources tell us that in certain instances, investigators uncovered times when Perez would back out of certain bets mid-speech when Trump skipped over a portion of the speech that included a word he had previously bet would be mentioned. https://t.co/BKrylHltFi
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) July 16, 2026
More from ABC News:
Gabriel Perez, a technical assistant to the president who has been operating Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, is in talks with federal regulators to settle allegations he used his inside knowledge of the president’s speeches to win more than $100,000, the sources said.
According to the sources, Kalshi alerted its regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to the suspicious activity on its “Mentions” market, where users can bet on whether specific words, phrases or topics are uttered during a public speech.
“Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC, and we are cooperating and assisting regulators,” Kalshi’s lead lawyer, Bobby DeNault, said in a statement provided to ABC News.
[…]
According to sources familiar with the investigation, Perez sat for an interview with regulators in recent months and acknowledged some of the trades. At some point during the investigation, the sources said the CFTC alerted federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who declined to open a criminal investigation.
Regulators at the CFTC have expressed a willingness to settle with Perez, and have discussed terms with him that would require Perez to give back his profits and refrain from making similar trades, according to sources familiar with the ongoing discussions.
The White House has emphasized that employees are prohibited from using nonpublic information for personal financial gain and reiterated that all staff are expected to comply with strict ethics rules.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday that President Trump was personally briefed on the matter.
“Obviously, I’m aware of the report. The President is, too. I spoke with him about it. He believes it’s deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace.”
Leavitt added that Perez is cooperating with the CFTC investigation and has been placed on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.
“The individual that was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC but has been put on paid administrative leave. So there will be a teleprompter operator tonight, of course, but it will not be the one, unfortunately, in that story.”
WATCH:
🚨 IT’S OFFICIAL: President Trump has placed his speech teleprompter operator on LEAVE WITHOUT PAY while they’re being investigated for making allegedly $90K on Kalshi by betting on Trump’s speeches
“I spoke with him about it. He believes it’s deeply unfortunate and frankly a… pic.twitter.com/vDqqoB3Bqs
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 16, 2026
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