A longtime teleprompter operator for US President Donald Trump is facing a federal investigation over allegations that he used advance knowledge of the president's public remarks to profit from trades on prediction market platform Kalshi, according to a CNBC report.
The investigation, being led by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), centres on allegations that the operator placed bets on Kalshi's "Mentions" market before Trump made certain public remarks.
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The trades allegedly generated more than $90,000 in profits, although most of the proceeds were frozen after Kalshi flagged the activity as suspicious. Citing a person familiar with the probe, the report identified the individual as Gabriel Perez, who has reportedly handled teleprompters for Trump's speeches since his 2016 presidential campaign.
Kalshi said its internal surveillance systems detected unusual trading patterns in March involving contracts tied to Trump's public statements.
Some transactions were also flagged by market makers through whistleblower channels.
According to the company, a review of customer onboarding data and compliance monitoring indicated that the account holder worked as a teleprompter operator for the federal government.
Kalshi subsequently froze the account and referred the matter to the CFTC.
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"Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC after an exchange investigation," Robert DeNault, Kalshi's head of enforcement, said in a statement cited by CNBC, adding that the company has been cooperating with regulators.
Perez's LinkedIn profile identifies him as an employee of VIP Prompting, a company reported to have operated White House teleprompters since the 1960s.
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