A longtime Trump aide has been yanked from the White House after allegedly turning advance knowledge of President Donald Trump’s speeches into a six-figure betting haul.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed Thursday that Gabriel Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since his first presidential campaign in 2016, was placed on unpaid administrative leave at the president’s direction.
“Obviously, I’m aware of the report. The president is, too. I spoke with him about it,” Leavitt told reporters. “He believes it’s deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace.”
“The White House has extremely strict ethical guidelines with respect to issues like this,” she added, stressing that Perez’s leave would be without pay. “That was the decision by the president, so it speaks for itself.”
Another operator was tapped to handle Trump’s nationally televised speech Thursday night.
Perez is accused of using his behind-the-scenes access to place bets on more than a dozen Trump speeches through Kalshi, an online prediction market where users can wager on whether specific words, phrases or subjects will come up during public events.
Sources familiar with the federal investigation told ABC News that Perez won more than $100,000 over a roughly three-month period.
The alleged bets reportedly involved Trump’s State of the Union address, a December primetime speech, his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos and remarks delivered during a March Medal of Honor ceremony.
As Trump’s teleprompter operator, Perez was often among the final people to see the president’s prepared remarks and was reportedly responsible for inserting last-minute changes.
Investigators even uncovered instances in which Perez allegedly abandoned certain positions while a speech was still underway after Trump skipped passages containing words on which the operator had wagered, ABC News reported.
That wrinkle is especially notable because Trump is famous for veering away from his prepared remarks.
“You know, when you go up here, you take a big chance, especially me because I go off teleprompter about 80% of the time,” Trump said during a January appearance at the Detroit Economic Club—another speech investigators reportedly believe Perez bet on.
Kalshi’s internal surveillance system reportedly detected unusual activity that did not match normal trading patterns. The company froze Perez’s account, trapping more than $90,000 in alleged profits, before referring the matter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
“Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC after an exchange investigation,” Kalshi enforcement chief Robert DeNault told CBS News. “We have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided evidence we collected, as we do in any referral.”
The CFTC has declined to confirm or deny that an investigation is underway.
Perez has reportedly cooperated with regulators and acknowledged some of the trades during an interview. Sources told ABC News that federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to launch a criminal investigation, while CFTC officials have discussed a possible settlement that could require Perez to surrender his profits and stay out of similar markets.
Perez did not respond to requests for comment from several news organizations.
The allegations surfaced only months after the White House explicitly warned employees against using privileged information to make prediction-market bets.
A March 24 email from the White House Management Office reminded staffers that using nonpublic information to trade such contracts could constitute a criminal offense.
“All White House employees are reminded that the misuse of nonpublic information by government employees for financial benefit is a very serious offense and will not be tolerated,” the email said, according to CBS News.
White House spokesman David Ingle said the administration expects every employee to follow its ethics rules and confirmed that Perez was cooperating with regulators.
Leavitt said the White House was not aware of any other staffers suspected of making similar trades.
The case could add fuel to a bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to crack down on government insiders using prediction markets for personal profit. Republican Sens. Todd Young and John Curtis joined Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Adam Schiff in introducing legislation that would prohibit federal officials and employees from trading on material nonpublic information.
“Public service should never be a pathway to personal profit based on insider information,” Young said when the bill was introduced.
