White House staffer under CFTC probe for alleged insider trading on prediction market
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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating Gabriel Perez, a senior White House aide, for potentially profiting from trades on a prediction market that bet on President Trump's speech content.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is examining whether Gabriel Perez, the president’s long-time teleprompter operator, engaged in insider trading on the prediction-market platform Kalshi, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Kalshi flagged Perez’s trades, which involved betting on specific words and phrases that public figures might use in speeches, and referred the activity to the CFTC. The platform’s enforcement head, Robert DeNault, said the company “promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC, and we are cooperating and assisting regulators.”
Sources indicated that Perez earned more than $90,000 from the trades, but the profits have been frozen while the investigation proceeds. Perez has reportedly cooperated with the CFTC. A CFTC spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the investigation.
The White House has previously warned staff against using nonpublic information for financial gain. A March 24 memo emphasized that such misuse “is a very serious offense and will not be tolerated.” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told ABC News that “the staffer in question is fully cooperating with the CFTC” and affirmed the administration’s ethics guidelines.
Perez, who holds the title of deputy assistant to the president and technical advisor, is among the higher-paid White House employees, with a reported 2026 salary of $175,000. He has worked closely with President Trump for a decade, often reviewing speech drafts shortly before they are delivered.