Trump's Teleprompter Operator Made $100K Betting on His Speeches

Gabriel Perez, who has run Donald Trump's teleprompter since 2016, allegedly made over $100,000 by betting on what the president would say next. Using the prediction market platform Kalshi, Perez bet on specific words and topics before Trump took the stage. Because he had the actual scripts in hand, he had an ultimate insider advantage, though Trump's tendency to go off script sometimes forced him to exit bets early.

Kalshi's surveillance team eventually flagged the suspicious trading pattern and reported it to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Perez is now in settlement talks with the regulator to return his profits and ban himself from similar trades. Although Manhattan prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges, the case highlights the massive challenge prediction markets face with insider trading.

This is not an isolated incident. Other platforms like Polymarket have seen similar cases, including a US soldier who made over $400,000 using classified intelligence. As major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs begin restricting their employees from trading on these platforms, regulators and platforms are scrambling to tighten their rules to stop traders who read the script before the rest of the market.