On 16/7, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez was placed on unpaid leave. President Donald Trump described the allegations against Perez as "disgraceful."

Perez, a technical staff member who joined Trump's team in 2016, is accused of leveraging internal information regarding the president's speeches to place bets on a prediction platform, reportedly profiting over 100,000 USD.

The platform allows users to bet on specific words, phrases, or topics expected to be mentioned in speeches, particularly those delivered by the US president.

The prediction platform reported the incident to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC is currently engaging with Perez regarding the allegations of exploiting information from President Trump's speeches for personal gain.

Leavitt stated it remains unclear if other White House employees have engaged in similar transactions.

Gabriel Perez checks the teleprompter before Trump's speech in Florida, US, in 11/2024. Photo: Reuters

"Strict ethical regulations prohibit this behavior," Leavitt stated. "The White House counsel's office made that clear to all of us who signed government contracts."

In 3/2026, the White House issued an internal memo prohibiting employees from using non-public information for betting on prediction markets.

Perez has served as one of Trump's teleprompter operators since his initial presidential campaign. Sources indicate Perez was often the last person to review most of the president's prepared speeches and received last-minute content edits directly from Trump.

The technical staff member had previously faced scrutiny from congressional and federal investigators concerning edits made before Trump's speech related to the 2021 Capitol riot.

Ngoc Anh (AP, ABC)