CFTC orders former White House teleprompter operator to pay $172,000 over Kalshi trades

The order requires Perez to repay $107,539.02 in profits, pay a $65,000 civil monetary penalty and cease trading on any CFTC-registered entity for three years. Perez consented to the order without admitting or denying the findings, according to the agency.

The edge came from unreleased speech text

The CFTC says Perez traded between December 2025 and February 2026 while working as a White House teleprompter operator. He allegedly read prepared remarks roughly an hour before delivery and traded contracts tied to whether specific words would appear in presidential speeches.

The agency characterized the conduct as misappropriation of information obtained through federal employment and said the trades violated the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. The order records the regulator's findings; it is not a court judgment.

Kalshi surveillance referred the activity

The CFTC says the matter was referred after Kalshi's surveillance team identified the trading. The settlement announcement says Perez received a reduction in the civil penalty because of his cooperation, including an interview with the agency and acceptance of responsibility.

The action is the second recent CFTC settlement involving a federal employee and prediction-market trading, according to independent reporting by The Block. It gives a concrete enforcement test for a fast-growing market category: access to information through a job does not become public merely because the resulting contract trades on a prediction platform.