Kalshi, a prominent prediction market platform, alerted federal regulators to suspicious trading activities related to President Trump’s speeches. These trades reportedly involve the president’s longtime teleprompter operator.
Robert DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement and legal counsel, announced via social media, “The Kalshi surveillance team quickly flagged, investigated, and referred these trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).”
DeNault further stated, “We have been working alongside regulators on this issue and have provided all evidence we gathered, consistent with our protocol for any referral.”
While DeNault did not name the individual involved, his comments come in response to an ABC News report naming Gabriel Perez. Perez, who began working for Trump in 2016, is reportedly in discussions with the CFTC over accusations of leveraging insider knowledge of Trump’s speeches for trading on Kalshi.
A source acquainted with the matter confirmed to The Hill that Perez is collaborating with the CFTC, the regulatory body overseeing prediction markets.
Kalshi said its surveillance, as well as some market makers, flagged trades in mention markets related to public statements by Trump that didn’t follow the normal pattern of buying and selling.
Mention markets allow users to place wagers on whether someone will say a particular word or phrase. The markets in this case involved common words, such as country names, economic words, general political topics, campaign phrases and social issues, according to Kalshi.
The company’s surveillance analysts discovered the account holder was employed by the federal government and served as a teleprompter operator, prompting them to freeze the account holding more than $90,000 in profits and ultimately refer the case to the CFTC.
Prediction markets have increasingly come under scrutiny in recent months over concerns about insider trading.
In one of the most high-profile incidents, a U.S. Army soldier was charged in April for using confidential information about the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to place bets on Polymarket. He allegedly raked in more than $400,000.
Both Kalshi and Polymarket have announced efforts to crack down on insider trading in recent months. Kalshi unveiled new guardrails in March to block politicians, athletes and other relevant individuals from trading in certain markets. Last month, the company also said it would start requiring users in some markets to share information about their employers.
Polymarket similarly rolled out updated rules in March clarifying that trading on stolen confidential information and illegal tips or by those who can influence the outcome was prohibited on the platform.