Overview
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday required Gabriel Perez to disgorge $107,539.02 in profits, pay a $65,000 civil penalty, accept a three‑year ban on trading prediction markets and obey a cease‑and‑desist order.
- The CFTC found Perez used material, nonpublic speech text he saw as a White House teleprompter operator to place winning bets on Kalshi’s presidential “mention” contracts between December 2025 and February 2026.
- Kalshi’s surveillance flagged the unusual trades, froze the account before Perez could withdraw most gains and referred the activity to the CFTC, a step the agency credited in its filing.
- The $65,000 penalty was reduced under the CFTC’s cooperation advisory because Perez provided substantial assistance, a fact that has drawn questions about whether the discount limits deterrence of similar abuses.
- The case shows how prediction markets create new insider‑trading risks, has prompted White House ethics action and adds momentum to congressional and regulatory scrutiny of event‑based betting platforms.