The White House has placed President Donald Trump’s long-serving teleprompter operator on unpaid leave following allegations that he used confidential knowledge of the president’s speeches to profit from online prediction markets.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Thursday that the staff member had been suspended pending investigations, describing the allegations as “unfortunate” and “a disgrace”.
“The White House has extremely strict ethical guidelines with respect to issues like this,” Leavitt told reporters, adding that President Trump had been briefed on the matter.
The controversy centres on reports that Gabriel Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, allegedly earned more than $100,000 by placing bets on Kalshi, a regulated online prediction market, over the words and phrases Trump would use in major speeches.
According to ABC News, the alleged wagers included bets on the president’s State of the Union address and other high-profile public appearances.
Kalshi’s Head of Enforcement, Robert Denault, said the company’s surveillance systems detected suspicious trading activity and referred the matter to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
“The Kalshi surveillance team promptly flagged, investigated and referred these trades,” Denault wrote on X.
He added that the company had provided regulators with all the evidence it had gathered, although he did not identify the individual involved.
The alleged activity reportedly took place on Kalshi’s “Mentions” market, where participants wager on whether specific words or phrases will be used during public speeches. The platform prohibits trading based on confidential information obtained through employment and recently introduced a requirement for users to disclose their employer.
The incident has renewed scrutiny of ethics and potential conflicts of interest within the Trump administration.
It also comes as the president’s business interests continue to attract attention. On Thursday, Trump’s media company announced plans to introduce paid premium access to Truth Social posts, including content that could have implications for financial markets.
Trump’s latest financial disclosure also revealed he generated approximately $1.2 billion from cryptocurrency-related ventures in 2025, including hundreds of millions of dollars from governance tokens and Trump-branded meme coins.
The White House has repeatedly rejected allegations that the president has used his office for personal financial gain.
Earlier this year, Leavitt said Trump was complying with all applicable conflict-of-interest laws and dismissed suggestions that he was profiting from the presidency.
Additional reporting Associated Press