A White House teleprompter operator is being investigated for allegedly using inside information to place bets and make nearly $100,000 on US President Donald Trump’s speeches.

Gabriel Pérez, who had worked in the White House since 2016, is accused of placing bets on the words the president would use during major public speeches, including the State of the Union address.

The trades were made on Kalshi, a prediction markets platform where users can bet on real-world events. The company confirmed that it reported the activity to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates the platform.

Kalshi froze Mr Perez’s account before profits could be withdrawn, according to reports.

The platform told the BBC that its analysts noticed unusual bets on “mention markets” – contracts where users predict whether a speaker will use common terms, such as specific countries, economic words or campaign slogans – in March.

“The words of political leaders such as presidents and Federal Reserve chairs cause billions of dollars of movement in currency markets, oil futures, [and] the stock market,” Kalshi said.

Using the account data, the company discovered that the user was a federal employee who operated White House teleprompters.

The exchange froze more than $90,000 before it could be withdrawn.

Robert DeNault, Kalshi’s chief of law enforcement, said the company flagged the operations and had turned over evidence to regulators.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump was aware of the teleprompter operator and that the employee was now on unpaid leave, before adding that Perez would no longer work at the White House.

The story, first reported by ABC News, has been confirmed by the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

Sources said Perez has been “fully cooperative” with the CFTC.

ABC said federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to open a criminal case.

When contacted by the BBC to confirm it was investigating, the CFTC said it could neither “confirm nor deny” any investigation.