Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator to pay $65,000 fine to settle insider-trading case
By Marshall Cohen, CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration settled an insider-trading case Friday against President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator, fining him $65,000 for “unlawful” prediction-market trades about Trump’s speeches.
The White House aide, Gabriel Perez, will also give up $107,000 in ill-gotten profits from his trades on Kalshi, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates prediction sites.
The CFTC said even though Perez “owed a duty of trust and confidentiality to the US government” and “breached these duties,” he received a “substantial discount” on the fine because of his “exemplary cooperation” with the probe.
CNN reported in July that the CFTC was investigating Perez. The White House said at the time that Trump thought his actions were “frankly a disgrace” and that he’d be on unpaid leave during the inquiry.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night.
This case is the first known instance of a White House employee alleged to be involved in an insider trading scheme on prediction markets, which have exploded in popularity this year.
As Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator, Perez traveled and worked with the president for a decade. He is one of a handful of aides the president trusted with his remarks and was often the last person to see Trump’s speeches before he delivered them.
CNN has a partnership with Kalshi and uses its data to cover major events. However, editorial employees are not permitted to use prediction platforms.
‘You will face the consequences’
Kalshi’s head of enforcement, Bobby DeNault, said the company caught Perez’s “prohibited trading activity” and reported it to the CFTC. In a statement, the agency credited Kalshi’s assistance with the probe.
“It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences,” DeNault said in a social media post Friday night.
The prediction company also imposed a three-year ban against Perez.
The CFTC said its investigation determined that Perez was “using misappropriated material” and “nonpublic information” to make money on so-called mention markets for his “own personal, financial benefit.” In these markets, people bet on which words major figures will say at public events.
This included markets about what Trump would say this year at the State of the Union address, the National Prayer Breakfast, a Medal of Honor ceremony, various rallies and other speeches, the CFTC filing said. Perez placed 49 trades and won 39 of them, earning over $107,000, the CFTC said.
The CFTC said Perez assisted the investigation and admitted in a voluntary interview with investigators that he “made his trading decisions based on the confidential information he had learned from his review of the speeches.”
Notably small fine
Former CFTC commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero, an appointee of President Joe Biden, said the small fine for Perez was a missed opportunity.
“Generally, the CFTC should provide an incentive for defendants to cooperate,” Romero told CNN. “But this is insider trading at the highest level of government – the White House. With this small penalty, the CFTC gave away the chance to send a strong message to deter future insider trading.”
Michael Selig, the Trump-appointed CFTC chairman, has championed the prediction market industry but also vowed to crack down on insider trading.
Trump has previously praised Selig’s leadership at the CFTC, saying Selig was “doing a great job” fighting to keep the federal government, rather than the states, in charge of regulating the prediction market industry. Selig attended a cryptocurrency event with Trump at the White House last week.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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