US President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez is being investigated by federal regulators over alleged insider trading at prediction market platform Kalshi, while the White House has placed him on unpaid leave, according to Reuters.The investigation reportedly centers on trades placed on Kalshi’s “mention markets,” where users place bets on whether specific words or phrases will be used in public speeches. Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Kalshi had detected the suspicious activity through its customer onboarding and market monitoring systems before referring the matter to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).According to Reuters, Kalshi also froze Perez’s account before withdrawing his profits of more than $90,000. The report said Perez is cooperating with the CFTC investigation.Confirming the action taken by the White House, press secretary Carolyn Leavitt told reporters, “The President is aware of the teleprompter operator, and the employee is now on unpaid leave.” He later said that Perez “will no longer be working in the White House.”Asked whether other White House staffers had access to Kalshi or Polymarket on government equipment, Leavitt said he did not know and added that, to his knowledge, no other White House or administration staffer was suspected of using privileged information to place bets.Kalshi said it had immediately alerted regulators after its internal investigation.“Our monitoring team immediately flagged these trades following the exchange investigation and referred them to the CFTC. We are assisting regulators on this matter and have provided the evidence we have collected, as we do in any referral,” Robert DeNault, Kalshi’s enforcement chief, told Reuters.According to Reuters, Kalshi’s internal review included an interview with Perez, while market makers also reported possible irregularities in several mentioned-market trades through whistleblower channels.The platform’s mention markets allow users to bet on whether particular words or phrases will be spoken during events such as presidential speeches, corporate earnings calls and television broadcasts. Such contracts have come under scrutiny from regulators due to concerns that they could be vulnerable to insider trading by people with advance access to prepared comments.Kalshi announced in June that it would require employment disclosure for users trading on sensitive contracts and launch a whistleblower portal to strengthen market integrity.Prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket have faced increasing regulatory scrutiny over concerns about market manipulation and insider trading. Earlier this year, a US Army soldier was accused of placing bets on Polymarket linked to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, while former congressman Jorge Santos is also under federal investigation over alleged insider trading at Kalshi, according to Reuters.