Trump’s Teleprompter Operator Faces Insider Trading Probe Over Kalshi Bets
Highlights
- The Trump teleprompter operator is facing a CFTC probe over insider trading.
- The teleprompter operator is believed to have made almost $100,000 on the mentions market for Trump's speeches.
- White House confirmed that the person in question has been placed on administrative leave.
Trump’s teleprompter operator is at the centre of a prediction market insider trading case, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission probing certain bets placed on Kalshi. The White House confirmed the case and revealed that they had placed him on administrative leave.
Trump’s Teleprompter Operator Faces CFTC Probe
According to an ABC News report, the CFTC is investigating the teleprompter operator, identified as Gabriel Perez, over bets he allegedly placed on Kalshi related to the mentions market for the president’s statement. Perez has reportedly made over $90,000 in profits on these trades, although Kalshi has frozen most of them after flagging the bets as suspicious and subsequently reporting them to the CFTC.
The Trump teleprompter operator has notably handled the president’s speeches since the 2016 presidential campaign and undoubtedly has firsthand access to them. Sources close to the CFTC investigation said the regulator found that Perez placed bets on Trump’s speech during the State of the Union.
Furthermore, he also bets on more than a dozen of Trump’s speeches over a three-month period, including a December primetime address, a January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and Trump’s remarks in March at a Medal of Honor ceremony.
According to ABC, the Trump teleprompter is fully cooperating with the CFTC investigation and has acknowledged some of the trades. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors reportedly declined to open a criminal investigation over these bets.
This marks the latest insider trading case on prediction markets. Notably, in April, the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged a U.S. soldier with using classified information to place bets on the top crypto prediction market platform Polymarket on markets related to former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s capture.
White House Confirms Insider Trading Case
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the insider trading case involving the Trump teleprompter operator during a briefing today. She mentioned that President Trump is also aware of the case and “believes it’s deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace.”
Leavitt also confirmed that Perez is complying with the CFTC and has been placed on paid administrative leave. She added that he won’t be the one operating the teleprompter for Trump’s speech tonight.
Trump’s much-anticipated speech is likely to focus on his administration’s findings of foreign interference during the 2020 election. Commenting on what the speech would entail, the Press Secretary described that what the president will say today will be shocking and that everything he says will be backed by facts and evidence. There are also already ‘mentions’ markets for today’s speech, with the odds notably high on President Trump mentioning China.
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