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The CFTC settled charges Friday against Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, over insider trading on prediction markets tied to presidential speeches. His job gave him early access to the text of speeches before Trump delivered them, and the CFTC says he used that access to bet on "presidential mention market" contracts, which pay out based on specific words or phrases said during a speech.
Between December 2025 and February 2026 Perez pulled in more than $107,500 in profits this way. The settlement has him giving back $107,539.02 in gains, paying an additional $65,000 civil penalty, and accepting a three-year ban from trading. Total cost to him: $172,000.
The CFTC noted the penalty was reduced under a newer cooperation policy, citing Perez's help with the investigation, and credited Kalshi, the exchange where the contracts traded, with assisting the probe.
This is the latest in a run of insider-trading cases surfacing around prediction markets as they scale up. Earlier this year a US soldier was charged over Polymarket bets tied to the operation against Maduro, allegedly netting over $400,000. A MrBeast video editor was also fired earlier this year amid a separate Kalshi insider-trading probe.
The CFTC's framing here matters for the industry: it's treating these event contracts as swaps that fall under its insider-trading authority, same as any other derivative. Kalshi has reportedly been working through a backlog of suspicious-activity reviews and adding new safeguards.
Anyone surprised these markets keep turning up insiders with an edge, or is this just the obvious growing pain of betting real money on real-world info before it's public?
Want to start trading? Sign up on fomo.family and save 10% on trading fees!
Between December 2025 and February 2026 Perez pulled in more than $107,500 in profits this way. The settlement has him giving back $107,539.02 in gains, paying an additional $65,000 civil penalty, and accepting a three-year ban from trading. Total cost to him: $172,000.
The CFTC noted the penalty was reduced under a newer cooperation policy, citing Perez's help with the investigation, and credited Kalshi, the exchange where the contracts traded, with assisting the probe.
This is the latest in a run of insider-trading cases surfacing around prediction markets as they scale up. Earlier this year a US soldier was charged over Polymarket bets tied to the operation against Maduro, allegedly netting over $400,000. A MrBeast video editor was also fired earlier this year amid a separate Kalshi insider-trading probe.
The CFTC's framing here matters for the industry: it's treating these event contracts as swaps that fall under its insider-trading authority, same as any other derivative. Kalshi has reportedly been working through a backlog of suspicious-activity reviews and adding new safeguards.
Anyone surprised these markets keep turning up insiders with an edge, or is this just the obvious growing pain of betting real money on real-world info before it's public?
Want to start trading? Sign up on fomo.family and save 10% on trading fees!