Taking the luck out of betting might lessen the thrill, but it certainly ups the profit. White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez allegedly made more than $100,000 by using inside knowledge of the President’s speeches to place bets on prediction market Kalshi, according to ABC News.
Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, is believed to have placed bets on more than a dozen speeches – including February’s State of the Union address. At times, he would even alter the bets mid-speech if he saw that the President was skipping a section on the teleprompter. Cockburn can’t help but respect the hustle.
His account’s winning streak was tracked and reported to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is now initiating a full investigation.
Back in March, the White House issued a memo that warned staff not to use nonpublic information to place bets on prediction markets. “The White House has strict ethics guidelines that we expect all staffers and officials to follow,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told ABC News. “The staffer in question is fully cooperating with the CFTC.”
In today’s White House press briefing, Karoline Leavitt said the President considers the incident “deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace.”
