Topline
President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator is under federal investigation for using insider information to bet on what the president would say in his speeches, according to a new report, as federal lawmakers have grappled with the issue of prediction market trading related to politics.
President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the Capitol on February 24, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Federal investigators with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reportedly believe Gabriel Perez, the operator who has worked for Trump since 2016, made money betting on Trump’s State of the Union address and more than a dozen other Trump speeches, according to ABC News, citing unnamed sources.
Perez is reportedly in talks to settle the allegations he has earned more than $100,000 trading on the president’s speeches, which emerged when the trading market, Kalshi, alerted the CFTC of suspicious activity on its site.
This is a developing story and will be updated.