A White House teleprompter operator who placed bets on Donald Trump’s speeches was ordered to pay $172,000.

The claim is supported by multiple reports published on August 29, 2026. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission took action against Gabriel Perez, a former White House teleprompter operator, after finding that he used advance access to President Donald Trump’s speeches to place wagers on Kalshi prediction markets. The reported conduct involved betting on words and phrases that would appear in Trump’s speeches.bbc.combbc.comEx-White House teleprompter operator ordered to pay $172,000 for Trump speech...theguardian.comtheguardian.comEx-White House teleprompter operator fined $172,000 for Trump speech bets |...+2 more

The reported amount is a rounded description of the sanctions. Available reports identify approximately $107,500 in profits that Perez must hand over and a $65,000 penalty, which together amount to about $172,500. That supports the claim’s $172,000 figure in ordinary rounded usage. Earlier reporting from July described the investigation and Perez’s placement on unpaid leave, but the later reports describe the CFTC’s completed enforcement action rather than a preliminary proposal.cbsnews.comcbsnews.comEx-White House teleprompter operator ordered to pay $172,000 for insider bets on...abcnews.comabcnews.comWhite House teleprompter operator made more than $100K betting on Trump's...+2 more

The evidence establishes the former operator’s role, the use of nonpublic speech information, the Kalshi wagers and the CFTC-ordered financial consequences. It does not suggest that President Trump personally participated in the betting or that the amount represented only a fine, since the total reportedly includes both disgorgement of profits and a civil penalty.