A man whose job ensured he knew the president’s next words has to hand over the money he made betting on them. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday said Gabriel Perez, a technical assistant who has run President Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, must pay $172,539 and stay off prediction markets for three years, NBC News reports. Regulators say Perez used confidential information about upcoming presidential remarks to trade “presidential mention” contracts on the Kalshi platform, pocketing more than $107,000 in profit.
Kalshi says its own surveillance system flagged the activity. The commission said the penalty was reduced because of Perez’s “exemplary cooperation” with the investigation, per ABC News. In July, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Perez “will no longer be here” and that Trump considers his behavior “a disgrace.” Kalshi prohibits trading based on information learned through the user’s job, and now requires users to disclose their place of employment.