Ex-White House Teleprompter Operator Fined $172,000 for Prediction Market Insider Trading (August 30, 2026)

Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, agreed to pay $172,000 to settle CFTC charges that he traded prediction market contracts on advance knowledge of presidential speeches. The settlement marks a federal enforcement action against information asymmetry in crypto-adjacent derivatives markets. According to Decrypt's reporting, Perez used his access to Trump's speeches before delivery to bet on 'presidential mention market' contracts. He profited more than $107,500 from the trades before the CFTC caught him. The $172,000 payment reflects the profit forfeiture plus a civil fine imposed by the regulator. Prediction markets trade conditional derivatives, typically binary contracts settled on the outcome of a discrete event. The 'presidential mention markets' Perez traded allowed him to wager on whether specific topics or names would be mentioned in an upcoming address, giving him an information advantage over other traders who lacked access to the speech text in advance.