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Akbar Novruz

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President Donald Trump's longtime teleprompter operator has been placed on unpaid administrative leave after federal investigators alleged he used advance knowledge of the president's speeches to profit from prediction market bets, AzerNEWS reports via ABC News.

Gabriel Perez, who has operated Trump's teleprompter since 2016, is under investigation by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over allegations that he earned more than $100,000 by placing bets on the prediction market platform Kalshi.

Investigators believe Perez used inside knowledge of the content of more than a dozen presidential speeches to place wagers on Kalshi's "Mentions" market, where users bet on whether specific words, phrases or topics will be mentioned during public addresses.

Sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News that Perez is currently in discussions with federal regulators to settle the allegations.

Kalshi said its internal surveillance system detected the suspicious trading activity and reported it to the CFTC.

"Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC, and we are cooperating and assisting regulators," Kalshi's head of enforcement, Bobby DeNault, said in a statement.

Following the report, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Perez had been placed on unpaid administrative leave.

Leavitt said she discussed the matter with President Trump, who described the allegations as "a disgrace" and personally decided to place Perez on leave.

She added that she was not aware of any other White House staff members who had engaged in similar trading activity.

"The White House has strict ethics guidelines that we expect all staffers and officials to follow," White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement provided to ABC News.

The CFTC has not publicly commented on the ongoing investigation.