CFTC settles insider trading case on KalshiEX prediction markets
Gabriel Perez ordered to disgorge profits and accept trading ban after using nonpublic White House speech text in prediction-market contracts.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a settled administrative order against Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, for trading presidential mention-market contracts on KalshiEX between December 2025 and February 2026.
Perez used advance knowledge of speech text to trade contracts that settled on whether the President would use specific words or phrases. The order requires him to disgorge $107,539.02 in profits, pay a $65,000 civil penalty, accept a three-year trading ban and cease further violations.
The CFTC reduced the penalty because of Perez’s cooperation and credited KalshiEX for referring the matter. No charges were brought against the exchange.
Remaining unknowns
The order does not disclose the exact timing or scope of KalshiEX’s surveillance review. It also leaves open whether controls the exchange later introduced would have prevented the trades.