The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order settling charges against Gabriel Perez for using material, nonpublic information obtained through his federal government employment to trade presidential mention market event contracts. Perez must disgorge USD 107,539.02 in profits, pay a USD 65,000 civil monetary penalty, cease and desist from further violations and serve a three-year trading ban. He settled without admitting the order’s findings or conclusions. The order finds that Perez, a White House teleprompter operator and technical adviser, reviewed President Donald Trump’s speeches before delivery and traded contracts based on whether specified words or phrases appeared in the prepared remarks. He traded in 14 mention markets and made profits on 39 of 43 contracts. The CFTC treated the event contracts as swaps and found that Perez misappropriated confidential government information in breach of his duties. The civil penalty reflects an approximately 40% reduction under the Division of Enforcement’s cooperation policy, exceeding the policy’s standard 25% ceiling because of Perez’s extraordinary cooperation. He promptly agreed to an interview, provided documents, acknowledged using the speeches to inform his trades and accepted responsibility for his conduct.

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