Donald Trump Associated Teleprompter Operator Ordered to Pay $172K

What is the difference between former US Congressman George Santos and a teleprompter operator who has worked with Donald Trump for years now? The latter has been ordered to pay about $140,000 more in fines compared to Santos, who got off the hook fairly easily, after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered him to pay a $35,000 fine over trades he placed on whether he would attend the State of the Union. However, the teleprompter who was caught betting on President Trump’s speeches in real time is having less luck, with the CFTC determining a far harsher penalty for him. He will have to disgorge $107,539.02 in profits, along with a $65,000 civil penalty. In both cases, the CFTC has refused to press criminal charges. The CFTC argued that Gabriel Perez, who was caught trading on POTUS’ speeches, was aware of when the President would say or not say certain words and phrases, but has shown “extraordinary cooperation” in the investigation, leading to a 40% reduction of his civil penalty. Perez reaped profit from 39 out of 43 contracts tied to Trump’s prepared remarks, with the trading activity beginning in early December 2025. The man admitted that he would review the speech and hence be able to leverage this information on binary Yes/No event contracts. Former US Congressman George Santos went even further, earning money on his own attendance at the State of the Union address. He was ordered to pay $17,569 in profits and pay an additional $17,500 as a civil penalty. Santos argued that this was the nature of prediction markets, and added that some people would end up losing money and others would end up making unexpected money. He also said that he wasn’t sure how much longer Kalshi would even be around. Santos and Perez Are Not an Exception Santos and Perez are just two of many suspected insiders who have abused their privileged knowledge to secure payouts on prediction markets. Kalshi has responded in the case of Santos, issuing a permanent ban, and the platform has been generally focused on transparency, reporting instances of fraud no matter who may be committing – a high-ranking official or someone close to the White House. In the meantime, concerns have increased that because of prediction markets, foreign adversaries may be tipped off about pending US military action, potentially putting the country at a disadvantage. In a similar case, a US soldier was charged with using classified information to profit from prediction markets. Gannon Ken Van Dyke profited $400,000 from using his awareness of US military operations, and he is facing three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of unlawful monetary transaction. Starkly, Perez and Santos were not.