{"success":true,"data":{"id":"7df1821d-d6af-4123-bdb2-5400a02802ac","title":"Officials probe whether White House teleprompter operator profited off Trump's words","summary":"It's the first known instance of officials investigating suspected insider trading on a prediction market from inside the White House.","content":"Accessibility links\n\n****Play Live Radio****\n\n*   **Hourly News**\n*   **Listen Live**\n*   **My Playlist**\n\n*   Open Navigation Menu\n\n*   [Sign In](https://www.npr.org/2026/07/16/nx-s1-5896223/kalshi-trump-white-house-teleprompter-operator-bet#)Personalize Your Experience \n\n Close Navigation Menu\n*   [News](https://www.npr.org/sections/news/)Expand/collapse submenu for News \n\n*   [Culture](https://www.npr.org/sections/culture/)Expand/collapse submenu for Culture \n\n*   [Music](https://www.npr.org/music/)Expand/collapse submenu for Music \n\n*   [Podcasts & Shows](https://www.npr.org/podcasts-and-shows/)Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows \n\nDaily\n\nFeatured\n\n**Trump’s teleprompter operator probed for prediction market trades****It's the first known instance of officials investigating suspected insider trading on a prediction market from inside the White House.**\n\n# Officials probe whether White House teleprompter operator profited off Trump's words\n\nThen-candidate Trump speaking in front of a teleprompter during a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada in 2024. **Justin Sullivan/Getty Images******hide caption****\n\n****toggle caption****\n\n Justin Sullivan/Getty Images \n\nFederal regulators are in settlement talks with President Trump's longtime teleprompter operator, who is alleged to have made nearly $100,000 on the prediction market site Kalshi, according to two people with knowledge of the probe who were not authorized to speak publicly.\n\nHe is suspected of profiting off of his access to the president's prepared remarks on a type of betting on Kalshi known as \"mention markets,\" where people wager on words and expressions the president will or will not say during public events.\n\nSponsor Message\n\nPrediction markets allow people to bet on elections, global policy or even what color tie the president will wear. The markets have exploded in growth in recent months, leading to several instances of high-profile insider trading. But this marks the first time someone inside the White House has been investigated for allegedly abusing that access for prediction market profits.\n\nGabriel Perez, who has worked for the president since 2016, is now negotiating with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over his alleged lucrative betting activity on the \"mention markets.\"\n\nAhead of Trump's address to the nation later on Thursday, Kalshi traders have [already wagered](https://kalshi.com/markets/kxtrumpmention/what-will-trump-say/kxtrumpmention-26jul16) more than $800,000 on whether the president will say words like \"Hormuz,\" or \"rigged election,\" or \"fake news.\"\n\nIn the case of Perez, Kalshi's surveillance systems detected unusual betting on \"mention\" markets involving the president that did not follow typical behavior, and when the company examined the accounts behind it, investigators saw that he was a federal employee, according to a source with direct knowledge of the inquiry.\n\n[Records](https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026-Annual-Report-to-Congress-on-White-House-Staff.pdf) show that as a deputy assistant to the president, Perez was paid $175,000 a year. Trump would sometimes make references to him during appearances, like he did during a 2024 [campaign stop in Reno](https://www.rev.com/transcripts/trump-rally-in-reno-nevada), Nevada in 2024.\n\nSponsor Message\n\n\"I have a guy, Gabe, he's excellent. I've had some real bad ones, but I have Gabe, some of the bad ones, they go so fast. I will go and I say, slow the damn thing,\" Trump said. \"No, a good one is really like gold.\"\n\nPerez is currently on unpaid administrative leave, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday, calling the actions \"a disgrace.\"\n\nIn a statement, Kalshi credited its detection tools with catching Perez.\n\n\"Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC after an exchange investigation. We have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided evidence we collected, as we do in any referral,\" said Robert DeNault, who heads enforcement at Kalshi.\n\nKalshi froze about $90,000 of Perez's profits and he has been banned from betting on the site, one of the sources not authorized to speak publicly said.\n\nPerez did not return a request for comment. ABC News first reported on the investigation into Perez.\n\nThe president's unpredictable and digressive speaking style can make for highly volatile trading on the site's \"mention markets,\" where the odds of Trump uttering a particular word or phrases fluctuate drastically, with traders trying to forecast what subject he may veer to next.\n\nSome traders who consider \"mention\" markets something of a full time job [have installed TV antennas](https://www.npr.org/2026/02/17/nx-s1-5716224/kalshi-polymarket-super-bowl-alpha) to get a tiny fraction-of-a-second advantage during live events.\n\nUsing non-public information to win big or manipulate markets on Kalshi is prohibited by the platform's rules. Such behavior could also be criminally prosecuted as wire fraud, commodities fraud and money laundering.\n\nIt is not clear if the Department of Justice is examining the case of Perez.\n\nIn March, White House staff received a memo warning against using nonpublic government information to place bets on Kalshi and its biggest competitor, Polymarket.\n\nSponsor Message\n\nThe memo, which was reviewed by NPR, stated that it is a criminal offense for anyone inside the White House to \"buy\" or \"sell\" on the sites. Prediction markets offer \"yes\" or \"no\" contracts that change in price based on the speculation of bettors. Aides in the White House were told in the memo that misusing government information \"is a very serious offence and will not be tolerated.\"\n\nIn April, federal prosecutors [charged](https://www.npr.org/2026/04/23/nx-s1-5797957/maduro-raid-charges-polymarket-insider) a U.S. Army special forces soldier for making $400,000 on Polymarket ahead of the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.\n\nThe following month, a Google software engineer [was charged with using confidential company information](https://www.npr.org/2026/05/27/nx-s1-5836659/google-polymarket-insider-trading-doj-charges) to make $1.2 million on Polymarket, for correctly guessing on Google search trends.\n\nOthers have been under investigation, too, including [former Republican congressman George Santos](https://www.npr.org/2026/06/02/nx-s1-5843371/george-santos-kalshi-insider-trading-investigation) who investigators say pumped up a Kalshi market by claiming he would attend Trump's 2026 State of the Union address, only to cash out on a \"no\" trade when he skipped it.\n\n*   **Facebook**\n*   **Flipboard**\n*   **Email**\n\n### More Stories From NPR\n\nSponsor Message\n\n### Popular on NPR.org\n\n### NPR Editors' Picks\n\n###### Read & Listen\n\n###### Connect","source_name":"NPR","source_url":"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/16/nx-s1-5896223/kalshi-trump-white-house-teleprompter-operator-bet","url":"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/16/nx-s1-5896223/kalshi-trump-white-house-teleprompter-operator-bet","author":"of 'Persepolis,' dies at 56\")","author_name":"of 'Persepolis,' dies at 56\")","published_at":"2026-07-16T17:10:29.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-16T17:10:29.000Z","image_url":"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/16/nx-s1-5896223/kalshi-trump-white-house-teleprompter-operator-bet","category":"world","topic":"world","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":5,"word_count":911,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot"}}