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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has ordered Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, to pay $172,539 after determining that he improperly used confidential information obtained through his federal government employment to trade prediction-market contracts.
The enforcement action, announced on August 28, 2026, centers on trades Perez made between December 2025 and February 2026. According to the regulator, his White House position gave him access to presidential speeches before they were delivered publicly.
He subsequently used information from those speeches to trade contracts linked to whether President Donald Trump would use particular words or phrases during his remarks.
The CFTC said Perez generated $107,539.02 from the trades. Under the settlement, that amount must be disgorged, while an additional $65,000 civil monetary penalty has been imposed.
Perez also accepted a three-year ban from trading activities covered by the CFTC and agreed to cease further violations of federal commodities law.
Although the contracts involved were not conventional cryptocurrency assets, the enforcement action demonstrates that regulators are applying established market-integrity principles to the rapidly expanding prediction-market sector.
The CFTC described the penalty reduction as reflecting Perez’s cooperation with investigators, referring to his “exemplary cooperation” with the agency. — Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in its August 28 enforcement order.
At the center of the case were presidential “mention market” contracts. These products allow traders to take positions based on whether a specified word or phrase will appear in a president’s speech.
For Perez, the issue was not simply whether his trades were successful. The regulator concluded that his access to information before the speeches were delivered created an unfair informational advantage.
The CFTC determined that he breached a duty of trust by using that nonpublic information for his own trading benefit.
Traditional financial markets have long operated under rules designed to prevent traders from profiting from material nonpublic information. The Perez settlement indicates that similar concerns are increasingly being applied to event contracts.
The financial consequences also exceeded the profits generated by the trades. Perez is required to return the full $107,539.02 and pay another $65,000 to the regulator, bringing the total financial obligation to $172,539.02.
For market participants, the case reinforces a basic principle: access to information that can materially influence an event’s outcome can create regulatory exposure when that information is used for trading.
The Perez settlement is part of a wider period of regulatory scrutiny surrounding prediction markets and potential insider trading.
The CFTC has been involved in several cases involving traders accused of using information that was unavailable to ordinary market participants.
One case involves U.S. Army Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who has been accused of using classified military information to trade Venezuela-related contracts on Polymarket.
Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty and disputed whether the contracts involved in that case qualify legally as swaps. A federal judge has stayed the CFTC’s civil action while related criminal proceedings continue.
Another case involved an editor associated with YouTube creator MrBeast. Kalshi imposed a $20,397.58 penalty and a two-year suspension after determining that the individual had traded contracts connected to MrBeast content while possessing confidential information.
The attention has also extended to unusual trading activity that may warrant further investigation. Polymarket has referred nearly 100 wallets for additional review after identifying patterns such as newly created accounts, concentrated positions and trades placed shortly before major events.
However, the presence of suspicious trading patterns does not by itself establish that insider trading occurred or guarantee that regulators will bring charges.
Automated monitoring and unusual-position analysis can identify potential risks, but a regulatory referral is not equivalent to a finding of wrongdoing.
The case has also placed greater attention on the compliance systems used by prediction-market exchanges. Kalshi, which assisted the CFTC’s investigation into Perez, has expanded its market-surveillance measures.
The exchange introduced additional screening for certain higher-risk markets, including employment information intended to help identify traders whose professional roles could give them access to relevant confidential information.
Kalshi has also introduced risk-scoring tools and whistleblower mechanisms to identify potentially abusive activity.
The exchange separately announced plans to use Nasdaq Market Surveillance technology to strengthen monitoring for market manipulation and insider trading across its event-contract and derivatives markets.
The developments are relevant to investors because prediction markets are increasingly being treated as financial markets requiring sophisticated surveillance rather than simply as online betting venues.
Kalshi says its market-integrity framework includes continuous monitoring, screening and enforcement procedures designed to identify prohibited trading.
The Perez settlement therefore arrives at a consequential point for the prediction-market industry.
Regulators are asserting oversight, exchanges are increasing surveillance and traders are facing greater scrutiny over how they obtain information used to make market positions.
The CFTC’s action against Perez resolves his federal enforcement case, but it also provides a clear signal about the regulator’s approach to information misuse in event contracts.
As prediction markets expand, investors should expect market-integrity controls, identity checks and surveillance requirements to become increasingly important parts of the trading environment.
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