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US President Donald Trump’s teleprompter operator has been suspended over allegations of placing bets on the online prediction market Kalshi based on the president’s speeches.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Gabriel Perez was put on unpaid administrative leave on the orders of the president and “will no longer be working at the White House.”
“The White House has extremely strict ethical guidelines with respect to issues like this,” Leavitt told reporters.
Kalshi’s head of enforcement said the company had contacted federal regulators over bets allegedly placed on what the president would say in public speeches.
Robert Denault, Kalshi’s lawyer and head of enforcement, said on X that the “Kalshi surveillance team promptly flagged, investigated and referred these trades” to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission that has regulatory authority over such matters.
“We have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided all evidence that we collected, as we do with any referral,” Denault added.
According to US media outlet ABC News, Kalshi alerted the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to what it considered suspicious activity, and Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, is currently in settlement talks with the regulator.