Kalshi Still Offers Markets on Trump Remarks, Even After Teleprompter Aide Accused of Insider Trading

As President Trump spoke to the nation Thursday evening, Kalshi continued to offer contracts on whether he would utter certain words. That happened despite the fact that an aide who worked the President’s teleprompter was placed on unpaid leave after he allegedly used his position to make trades on similar markets through the prediction exchange.

ABC News reported earlier in the day that Gabriel Perez made more than $100,000 in trades regarding Trump’s speeches. In addition to being placed on leave, ABC also noted that Perez was negotiating a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The news is the latest instance of someone using their position to profit from prediction exchanges. It comes as several members of Congress have questioned whether the operator and others offering similar exchanges have done enough to prevent insider trading.

According to a July 2025 White House report to Congress, Perez made $175,000 as a deputy assistant to President Trump and a technical advisor.

How Kalshi Acts on Insider Trading Claims

In a post on X Thursday morning, Robert J. Denault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, said the company “promptly flagged, investigated, and referred” Perez’s activity to the CFTC.

“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 Kalshi’s website, the exchange uses “pattern recognition” against each trade made on the site. Kalshi also examines other factors, such as the time of the trade and “win-rate irregularities.”

Kalshi freezes accounts that it flags for suspicious activity, and its legal department decides whether to pursue a case after compliance staff members further investigate the trades and traders in question. Once Kalshi determines a violation has occurred, it refers the incident to the CFTC.

“Confirmed violations result in disgorgement, fines, multi-year suspensions or permanent bans,” the site states.

It’s uncertain when Kalshi took its action, but the ABC News report said CFTC investigators found Perez purchased contracts on several Trump speeches from December to March.

A Kalshi spokesperson did not immediately respond to a message sent late Thursday evening.

Watchdog Group Wants Action

The CFTC oversees prediction markets like Kalshi. Federal law allows Kalshi and other prediction markets to self-certify the events it offers, such as what President Trump may say during a certain speech or press conference, without approval from the commission. However, prediction markets must ensure the contracts they offer abide by federal regulations.

Some, though, have criticized the CFTC for taking such a hands-off approach when it comes to regulating prediction markets.

Craig Holman, a lobbyist with nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen, said in a statement after Thursday’s news broke that trading on political events has allowed a select few to make vast sums of money. He added that individuals within the Trump Administration have likely taken advantage of that opportunity.

“This is further evidence of illegal insider trading on the prediction markets – an industry that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has let operate like the Wild West,” Holman said. “Public Citizen again calls on the CFTC to wake up and do its job of overseeing the prediction market industry and enforcing the insider trading laws.”

Kalshi Growing Because of Politics, Sports

Kalshi began its online prediction market five years ago. Its audience grew in 2024 after it successfully sued the federal government to begin offering contracts on elections and other political events.

It then expanded its offerings to include sporting events shortly after President Trump took office in January 2025. That also coincided with the company announcing it brought on Donald Trump Jr. as a strategic advisor.

Last month, The Financial Times reported Kalshi awarded the president’s eldest son $300,000 in equity at that time. That distribution occurred when the exchange’s value was less than $2 billion. In May of this year, Kalshi announced raising $1 billion in funding at a valuation of $22 billion.

The second Trump Administration has made moves to allow Kalshi and other prediction markets to expand their offerings. That includes, among other things, contracts on sporting events.

For years, the federal government considered such contracts illegal since it equated sporting events to gaming. The Commodity Exchange Act lists gaming, along with assassinations, terrorism, and war, as a prohibited category. However, CFTC Chair Michael Selig, whom Trump appointed, has been outspoken about allowing exchanges to enter into sporting events.

As a result, several states have taken Kalshi and other prediction markets to court, seeking to ban them from offering what they consider to be unlicensed gambling. The prediction markets and even the CFTC have responded with lawsuits of their own seeking to quash state cases.

A few of the state lawsuits are already before federal appeals courts, and the consensus on both sides of the issue is that the U.S. Supreme Court will serve as the final arbiter on the matter.

In addition, several lawmakers on Capitol Hill have said they want to block the federally regulated exchanges from offering contracts on sporting events.