Former White House operator ordered to pay more than $172,000 for Kalshi mention trades

The CFTC ordered former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to pay more than $172,000 to settle charges that he used advance access to President Trump's speeches to trade on Kalshi mention markets. Perez allegedly read Trump's prepared remarks about an hour before delivery. Perez opened a Kalshi account on Dec. 8, 2025. Perez traded between December 2025 and March 2026, according to the order. Kalshi mention markets attempt to predict specific words that public figures will use in addresses. The order requires Perez to repay $107,539.02 in profits. The order requires Perez to pay a $65,000 civil fine. The order bars Perez from trading on any CFTC-registered entity for three years. Perez consented to the order without admitting the findings. The CFTC said Perez received about a 40% reduction in the civil penalty after he voluntarily gave an interview and accepted responsibility. The CFTC called his cooperation exemplary. The CFTC credited KalshiEX for assisting with the matter. Kalshi head of enforcement Robert DeNault said the exchange's surveillance unit detected the trading. On July 31, former congressman George Santos agreed to pay the CFTC about $35,000 over Kalshi trades. The contract concerned who would attend February's State of the Union address. The CFTC found that Santos misrepresented his own attendance on social media while holding positions in the market. Both orders include three-year trading bans. Both cases originated from Kalshi referrals. The CFTC charged Santos with manipulating a contract over which he had influence. The CFTC charged Perez with trading on insider information. Federal prosecutors charged Google engineer Michele Spagnuolo in May with using internal search data to make about $1.2 million on Polymarket. The CFTC filed a parallel civil complaint against Spagnuolo. House Oversight Chairman James Comer opened a May probe into insider trading controls at Kalshi and Polymarket. The probe requested documents on how the platforms verify user identities. The probe also requested documents on geoblock enforcement and suspicious trading detection. Both platforms tightened those controls in March. The platforms added screening tools and updated conduct rules. The CFTC separately proposed a rules framework for prediction markets under Chair Michael Selig. The Ninth Circuit ruled against Kalshi in its dispute with Nevada gaming regulators on Friday. The court held that Kalshi had not shown a likelihood that federal commodities law preempts Nevada's gambling rules.