White House teleprompter operator on unpaid leave after alleged bets on Trump speeches
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President Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid administrative leave after the prediction market Kalshi flagged suspicious trades on Trump’s speeches, the White House confirmed Thursday.
Shortly before Thursday’s White House press briefing, ABC News reported that Gabriel Perez, who was first hired by Trump in 2016, is in settlement talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over allegations that he used inside knowledge about the president’s remarks to place wagers on Kalshi.
“The individual that was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC and has been placed on administrative leave,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporter.
Leavitt said Trump had been made aware of the situation, adding that another teleprompter operator will handle Trump’s primetime address to the nation later Thursday.
“He believes it is deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace,” she said.
It comes as prediction markets face intense scrutiny over insider trading, including by government and military officials.
“There are very strict ethical guidelines that explicitly state not to do this,” she added. “And the White House counsel’s office makes that clear to all of us who sign up to work in government on behalf of the president.”
A source familiar confirmed to The Hill earlier Thursday that Perez is cooperating with the CFTC, which oversees prediction markets.
Kalshi said its surveillance, as well as some market makers , flagged trades in mention markets related to public statements by Trump that didn’t follow the normal pattern of buying and selling.
Mention markets allow users to place wagers on whether someone will say a particular word or phrase. The markets in this case involved common words, such as country names, economic words, general political topics, campaign phrases and social issues, according to Kalshi.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com
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