Teleprompter Operator Suspended Amid Betting Scandal

The White House announced Thursday that President Donald Trump’s teleprompter operator is on unpaid leave following allegations of using insider knowledge to place bets through the prediction market, Kalshi. Reports suggest the operator used insights about the president’s speeches for financial gain.

Kalshi’s Chief Compliance Officer confirmed that the company alerted federal regulators regarding bets placed on expected content in the president’s speeches. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the incident, labeling it a ‘regrettable’ and ’embarrassing’ situation.

‘The White House maintains strict ethical guidelines on such matters,’ Leavitt stated. She added that the teleprompter operator is currently on unpaid leave.

ABC News reported that Gabriel Perez, who has managed the teleprompter for Trump since 2016, allegedly earned over $100,000 by betting on speech content, including significant events like the State of the Union address earlier this year.

Robert Denault, Kalshi’s legal advisor and compliance head, noted on social media platform X that the ‘Kalshi surveillance team detected, investigated, and promptly referred these transactions’ to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which governs such issues. He did not specifically mention Perez in his statement.

ABC’s report relied on anonymous sources familiar with the situation. It highlighted suspicious betting activity in Kalshi’s ‘Mentions’ market, where users wager on specific phrases and words that might appear in public addresses. Recently, Kalshi implemented a policy requiring users to disclose their employment and forbids bets based on work-related insights.

Concerns have surfaced about potential financial gains by Trump administration members, including Trump. His recent financial disclosures claim earnings of $1.2 billion from cryptocurrency ventures. These gains contrast with losses experienced by investors whom Trump aimed to protect from federal regulations.

Trump’s business, World Liberty Financial, reportedly generated over $500 million by selling new cryptocurrency products such as ‘governance tokens.’ An obligatory annual disclosure to the Office of Government Ethics revealed that another cryptocurrency enterprise, CIC Digital LLC, accrued more than $600 million from selling ‘meme’ coins adorned with Trump’s image.

Both tokens and coins have lost value since their sales. Trump’s wealth has grown due to merchandise deals and political events at his properties. His advisers assert that Trump complies with all applicable conflict of interest laws.

‘The president is adhering to all conflict of interest laws applicable to the presidency,’ Leavitt claimed earlier this year, dismissing allegations of Trump benefitting from his presidency as ‘absurd.’