Former White House Staffer Hit With $172K Penalty Over Kalshi Insider Betting

A former White House staffer’s access to President Donald Trump’s speeches proved costly as he allegedly turned the information into profits on Kalshi. As per reports, Gabriel Perez made a significant gain of $107,500 by betting on words and phrases that the president would use in his speeches.

Now, Perez is supposed to return these profits and pay a penalty of $65,000. Under a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), he is also required to stay away from trading.

White House insider used Trump speech access for Kalshi bets

On August 28, 2026, the CFTC revealed that Gabriel Perez, a former White House staffer, used his insider knowledge to make profits on the Kalshi betting platform. He already had confidential information about President Trump’s speeches due to his federal government position. The accused used this knowledge to trade and make profits on Kalshi. The commission stated,

“In his position, Perez had access to presidential speeches prior to those speeches being delivered and Perez misappropriated that information — in breach of his duty of trust and confidence.”

Notably, he had previously worked as a White House teleprompter operator. During that time, he had access to the president’s speeches. While he became familiar with the words and phrases Trump recurrently used, he allegedly turned this critical knowledge into profits by betting on the Kalshi prediction market platform.

As Perez is now charged with insider betting, the CFTC has imposed a civil penalty of $65,000 on him. While he is required to return the profits, he also agreed to a three-year ban on trading. As noted by the regulator, the fine is reduced as Perez completely cooperated with the investigations.

Bigger questions for prediction markets

It is worth noting that the current incident sparks a major concern about insider betting and trading on prediction markets. As prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are becoming more popular, they are facing higher risks.

Interestingly, prediction market platforms allow people to place bets on real events such as elections, sports results, economic data, and political speeches. However, putting money with insider knowledge is illegal. A person holding information not available to the public cannot be involved in the predictions, because it leads to an unfair advantage.

The White House staffer’s case is not an isolated incident. Other similar incidents have also taken place in recent months. Earlier this year, a US soldier was involved in an alleged insider trading on Polymarket. He reportedly made a profit of $400,000 in a bet linked to a military operation involving Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Another case involves a MrBeast video editor who was later fired in connection with suspected insider trading on Kalshi.

Prediction market faces growing scrutiny in the US

These insider trading issues come amid the growing scrutiny over prediction market platforms in the US. Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are facing increasing challenges over regulatory conditions. While the US state authorities believe that prediction markets should be governed under state gambling laws, the platforms argue that they fall under federal oversight.

About 44 US states are already in legal battles with these platforms. These states include Nevada, Washington, New York, Arizona, Connecticut, and more. Recently, as CoinCodex reported, the Washington court blocked Kalshi’s sports contracts, siding with the state authorities.