Teleprompter operator placed on leave

What's happened

The White House has placed Gabriel Perez, a teleprompter operator who has worked for the president since 2016, on unpaid administrative leave after Kalshi flagged suspicious bets tied to words in presidential speeches. Kalshi has referred trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and has frozen more than $90,000 in accounts while regulators investigate.

What's behind the headline?

What the evidence shows

• Kalshi's surveillance team has identified unusual activity in its "mentions" markets tied to words and phrases in more than a dozen presidential speeches. The platform has said it flagged and referred those trades to the CFTC and froze funds before profits could be withdrawn.

What likely happened

• An account linked to a federal employee with teleprompter access placed targeted bets on whether specific words or phrases would appear in speeches. The operator has been placed on unpaid leave and is reported to be cooperating with regulators.

Why this matters

• Prediction markets move real money and affect broader markets; insiders with advance knowledge of scripted remarks can gain a financial edge. Regulators will treat such trades as material nonpublic information when they stem from official duties.

What will happen next

• The CFTC will continue its inquiry and will likely press Kalshi for trading records and account links. Kalshi will increase monitoring and may tighten user verification and employment-disclosure rules. The White House will tighten internal controls and restrict access to speech drafts and teleprompter logs.

Longer-term consequences

• This will force prediction platforms to adopt stronger surveillance and disclosure. It will also push agencies and administrations to review staff trading policies and could prompt legislation clarifying rules for prediction markets.

How we got here

Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket have grown rapidly this year and have been tightening surveillance after regulators and senators pushed for guardrails. Kalshi prohibits trading on job-derived information; the platform has referred other suspicious trades to regulators, including ones tied to public figures and government events.

Our analysis

Several outlets have reported the same central facts but emphasised different details. Kalshi's statements appear in Business Insider and AP: Robert DeNault, Kalshi's head of enforcement, told Business Insider that "the platform's surveillance team flagged and referred the trades to the CFTC" and that Kalshi froze funds after its internal review. AP quoted DeNault saying the company "promptly flagged, investigated and referred these trades" and that it had provided evidence to regulators. The Guardian and BBC emphasised the staffer's tenure and salary, noting government records that show Perez earned about $175,000 a year; the Guardian wrote that sources said Perez "earned more than $90,000" while the BBC reported Kalshi froze "more than $90,000". Sky News, The Times of Israel and the Independent repeated ABC's reporting that Gabriel Perez has operated the teleprompter since 2016 and that ABC first named him. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has been consistent across outlets: she has told reporters the president "is aware" and has called the situation "deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace," and she has said the staffer is on unpaid administrative leave. Business Insider and the BBC note Kalshi's wider policing actions, including previous referrals tied to political figures; The Guardian added that the CFTC chair has been publicly supportive of Kalshi. Read Business Insider for the Kalshi enforcement quotes from DeNault and an explanation of how the platform traced trades to a federal employee; read the Guardian for context on prediction-market regulatory debate and the CFTC's stance; read AP for a concise summary and Leavitt's direct quotations.

Go deeper

• Will the CFTC bring criminal charges or a civil enforcement action?
• How will Kalshi change user verification and employment-disclosure rules?
• What internal White House safeguards will change to limit access to speech drafts?

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