CFTC Imposes $172,539 Fine on Gabriel Perez for Insider Trading on Kalshi

Gabriel Perez faces a hefty fine. $172,539.02, to be precise. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has come down hard on a former White House teleprompter operator who seemingly found a straightforward way to monetize his access to presidential speeches—before the rest of the world heard them.

The scheme was simple, perhaps too simple to last. Between December 2025 and February 2026, Perez worked at the White House. His job: manage the teleprompter. This meant he read Donald Trump’s speeches before anyone else. And Kalshi, the predictive markets platform, offered contracts that were exactly about that—the words and phrases Trump would say. So Perez traded. A total of 43 contracts. He won 39. A success rate that, in any other context, would seem extraordinary. Here, it’s easily explained.

$172,539 and a Three-Year Trading Ban

The penalty is divided into two parts. First, $107,539.02 in restitution—that’s the illicit gains he has to return. Then, a civil penalty of $65,000 on top. Total: $172,539.02. No negotiation on the figure, that’s what the CFTC set.

And the money isn’t all. Perez is banned from trading for three years. He also agreed not to break the rules in the future. This kind of formal commitment, as part of a CFTC sanction, is standard—but it remains legally binding.

What likely saved Perez from an even harsher penalty was his cooperation during the investigation. The CFTC made it clear: this cooperation played a role in determining the final penalty. In other words, he talked, he helped, and it mattered. How much it saved him? Unclear. The CFTC doesn’t provide such details.

Kalshi at the Center of a Broader Regulatory Issue

The Perez case comes at a particular time for predictive markets. Kalshi, Polymarket, and other similar platforms are attracting a growing number of users—people who want to bet on politics, the economy, all sorts of events. The market is growing fast. And rapid growth usually means regulators are playing catch-up.

The issue Perez embodies isn’t really new. Using non-public information to trade—insider trading, in its most classic form—has been an offense for decades in traditional financial markets. But predictive markets are relatively young. The rules that apply to them, the gray areas, who can trade what when—all of that is still being developed.

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Too risky. Especially for those with privileged access to sensitive information—officials, institutional employees, political advisors. The Perez case makes this risk very real.

There’s also a Van Dyke case running parallel, still pending. The source doesn’t specify the details of this case, but industry observers are watching closely. The CFTC’s upcoming decisions on this case—and any new guidelines that might result—will likely shape how predictive markets handle the participation of people with access to sensitive information.

No details on what this will concretely lead to. But the regulatory pressure is real.

Platforms like Kalshi might find themselves having to review their internal policies—more thorough identity checks, restrictions on certain user profiles, increased monitoring of unusual trading patterns. A success rate of 39 out of 43 contracts should have raised a red flag somewhere.

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Perez, meanwhile, has 39 wins out of 43 trades to his name. And $172,539.02 to pay.