Trump Teleprompter Operator Placed on Unpaid Leave Over Alleged Prediction Market Bets
By Shahnoor Saqib -SCN
WASHINGTON — A White House teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump has been placed on unpaid administrative leave after allegations that he used advance access to the president's speeches to place profitable bets on a prediction market platform.
The White House confirmed the employee was removed from duty pending the outcome of the investigation. Officials described the allegations as serious and emphasized that federal employees are prohibited from using nonpublic government information for personal financial gain.
ABC News identified the employee as Gabriel Perez, alleging he earned more than $100,000 by placing wagers on markets predicting words or phrases President Trump would use in major public speeches, including the State of the Union address.
According to reports, prediction market platform Kalshi detected suspicious trading activity through its internal monitoring systems. The company froze the account, withheld a significant portion of the reported profits, and notified the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which is now reviewing the matter.
Kalshi said it has strengthened its compliance policies by requiring additional employment disclosures for users participating in certain politically sensitive prediction markets and reiterated that trading on material nonpublic information is prohibited.
The investigation comes as prediction markets continue to expand in popularity across U.S. politics, raising broader questions about ethics, insider information and oversight when government employees have access to confidential material before it becomes public.