- The White House suspended a longtime Trump teleprompter operator
- He is accused of using speech details to place prediction market bets
- Federal regulators are reviewing the allegations
The White House has placed a longtime teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump on unpaid administrative leave following allegations that he profited from advance access to the president’s speeches by placing bets on prediction markets.
Eko Hot Blog gathered that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the development during a briefing on Thursday, stating that the employee had been placed on unpaid leave and would no longer remain with the administration.
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According to reports by ABC News, the staff member has been identified as Gabriel Perez, who has worked as Trump’s teleprompter operator since 2016.
The report alleged that Perez is in discussions with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over claims that he used confidential knowledge of Trump’s prepared remarks to place wagers on the prediction platform Kalshi.
The bets reportedly centred on whether the president would mention certain words, topics or phrases during more than a dozen public appearances, including his February State of the Union address and his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Leavitt said President Trump had been briefed on the allegations, describing the situation as both “deeply unfortunate” and “a disgrace.”
Kalshi also confirmed that it detected unusual trading activity linked to the president’s speeches and subsequently referred the matter to federal regulators for investigation.
In a statement shared on social media, the company’s Head of Enforcement and Legal Counsel, Robert DeNault, said its surveillance team identified the suspicious trades, carried out an internal investigation and forwarded its findings to the CFTC.
He added that Kalshi had fully cooperated with regulators by providing all relevant information collected during its review.
The CFTC has yet to announce any formal enforcement action against Perez as investigations continue.
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