WH teleprompt operator ordered to pay $172k

[alani123]

So the guy who was fixing Trump's teleprompter was ordered to pay a hefty fine due to betting on prediction markets with insider knowledge on what trump would say.

Do you think this will have an impact on prediction markets? First of all they are treated like betting and secondly the authorities were so swift to issue such judgment. Maybe it's just to throw the book at this guy to show they're doing something though. What do you think?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-teleprompter-operator-ordered-pay-172k-prediction-bets-kalshi-rcna594976

[Charles-Tim]

Do you think this will have an impact on prediction markets?

The prediction market is full of manipulations, but not all markets that are there. The prediction of weather, asset prices, bets on sports and some few other ones may be very difficult to have insider bets. But those like betting on war, some political bets, regional tensions will have insider bets. We are only hearing the ones from United States, but know that other countries are also making use of the opportunity.

[obuoma]

So the guy who was fixing Trump's teleprompter was ordered to pay a hefty fine due to betting on prediction markets with insider knowledge on what trump would say.

Do you think this will have an impact on prediction markets? First of all they are treated like betting and secondly the authorities were so swift to issue such judgment. Maybe it's just to throw the book at this guy to show they're doing something though. What do you think?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-teleprompter-operator-ordered-pay-172k-prediction-bets-kalshi-rcna594976

There was a topic raised some time ago about this issue, so this is the conclusion. I knew he would be fined but what I don't understand is why he is being fined close to 2x of what he allegedly won through the privileges he had as someone close to the government. It is possible he might have made millions through other means that were not identified because someone with such information would have figured out how to convert to money and enjoy affluence. I think this will discourage others from abusing their privileges.

[Nwada001]

There was a topic raised some time ago about this issue, so this is the conclusion. I knew he would be fined but what I don't understand is why he is being fined close to 2x of what he allegedly won

He’s not being fined 2X of what he allegedly won; according to the news, what he won in total was $107,539.02 from the prediction market using the insider information. His civil fines penalty for that action after ruling is $65,000, which is him paying to the government as a means of saying, "I'm wrong for doing this." Then he is asked to return the $107,000 that was won from the market, so he was obviously asked to pay for that action and at the same time return the money. The article only added both figures together to reach that sum total.

[Questat]

Okay, so he is paying the fine but will not be jailed for this violation? That sounds too easy.

What if he actually won much more than what was discovered? He could have also shared that inside information with other people and they could have made money from it too.

Imagine if he made around $500k from this and only paid less than $100k in fines. He would still be up around $400k, and if he also keeps his job then the punishment does not really look that serious. If penalties are too small compared to the possible profit, then it may not be enough to stop people from doing the same thing again.

[danherbias07]

Wasn't this the norm in prediction markets? Everything is manipulated

I don't know why they should file a lawsuit against someone who just used his work to take advantage of the market. So we can also fine those who are working in assets and commodities or, worse, the owners of the companies who are making gold and producing oil because they are betting on their commodities in the live market.

IMO, it sounds unfair, but I think a warning should suffice, and giving back the money is enough instead of paying more due to a civil penalty. It's his job, of course; the temptation will be there.

[Tetu100]

I think this will discourage others from abusing their privileges.

Discourage others you say?  Remember this kinda stuff is what involves millions of dollars and who knows if there are more people in the picture that aren't being uncovered yet. Indeed people can be so misterious all because they want to make a living. However, the only thing that would have touch or discourage others from following same path way is death sentence, although it seems hash a bit but a strong message would've been sent across to others that are doing the same thing or have plans to follow suit.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

There was a topic raised some time ago about this issue, so this is the conclusion.

I think this is the thread, Trump teleprompter operator made $100K betting on Kalshi markets.

I knew he would be fined but what I don't understand is why he is being fined close to 2x of what he allegedly won through the privileges he had as someone close to the government. It is possible he might have made millions through other means that were not identified because someone with such information would have figured out how to convert to money and enjoy affluence. I think this will discourage others from abusing their privileges.

Someone already explains why they arrived with that numbers. Nevertheless, it just shows how prediction market works, there is no control and everyone can bet and win big money on any world events because they have information on it.

Not the first time that we are going to see this kind of news. And the money will be bigger and as long as they think that they can outsmart the system of prediction markets, there will be individuals willing to take the risk.

[freedomgo]

This is called insider information, and we are already seeing many reports about cases like this. The problem is the government does not seem to give serious enough punishment to the people who get caught, so maybe some of them are confident because the reward can be much bigger than the penalty.

And we are only talking about those who actually got caught. How much more for those who are smart enough to hide it?

What is supposed to be a prediction game becomes easy money for someone who already has the correct information before everyone else.

[Woodie]

So the guy who was fixing Trump's teleprompter was ordered to pay a hefty fine due to betting on prediction markets with insider knowledge on what trump would say.

More like damage control   but isn't this how the Trump Clique make their money, leverage insider information..manipulate and buy cheap stock or assets then pump it with digital social engineering and boom money made ..easy as that.

Do you think this will have an impact on prediction markets?

Gamblers care less for all we know, and isn't this an isolated case ??

First of all they are treated like betting and secondly the authorities were so swift to issue such judgment. Maybe it's just to throw the book at this guy to show they're doing something though. What do you think?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-teleprompter-operator-ordered-pay-172k-prediction-bets-kalshi-rcna594976

These politically motivated cases are just playing to the gallery, otherwise after some time the betting reverts to normal..

[X-ray]

Impact? It's obviously not. The fact that teleprompter was just a little guy, and he's lucky enough to get out by paying the fine instead of getting jailed. However, his case means nothing to the prediction market because it's will always be used by the big boys who immune with from getting sanctioned to farm billions of money.

Just stick to the fact only people around the oligarchy are always being allowed to do insider trading, then made eight or nine figures from it.

No justice for people with no huge pocket. This is hurt, but it's the truth.

[Chibit01]

Okay, so he is paying the fine but will not be jailed for this violation? That sounds too easy.

It's not surprising to me that he never got a jail sentence. After all, he's working with a sitting president. What was just done was to make him pay the fine. Let it not be that he was never punished.

What if he actually won much more than what was discovered? He could have also shared that inside information with other people and they could have made money from it too.

That can also be possible, as long as he have access to others outside his place of work, he can always contact them to make a bet on that. Makes it make sense that someone who has access to information that could actually give him money only for him to stake multiple times and arrive winning only $170k he could actually have made some bet which has not yet discovered. 

[stompix]

It is possible he might have made millions through other means that were not identified because someone with such information would have figured out how to convert to money and enjoy affluence. I think this will discourage others from abusing their privileges.

He was a teleprompter operator, he doesn't have any other "influence" or "insider" info
The whole thing is pretty simple, before the conference, the guy received the papers with what the president is going to say on tv and he had to insert them into the system, so instead of Trump reading from a piece of paper, he would have the prompter behind the scenes.

Discourage others you say?  Remember this kinda stuff is what involves millions of dollars and who knows if there are more people in the picture that aren't being uncovered yet.

He made 100k in 6 months and his yearly wage was $180k before this. Hardly mafia money!

[pawanjain]

So the guy who was fixing Trump's teleprompter was ordered to pay a hefty fine due to betting on prediction markets with insider knowledge on what trump would say.

Do you think this will have an impact on prediction markets? First of all they are treated like betting and secondly the authorities were so swift to issue such judgment. Maybe it's just to throw the book at this guy to show they're doing something though. What do you think?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-teleprompter-operator-ordered-pay-172k-prediction-bets-kalshi-rcna594976

This seems to be an old news even though the article mentioned is posted just today. I remember posting on one of the threads on this board in last few weeks.
Not sure if this has happened again but I think this is unfair for others who are genuinely making their predictions in the market.
Good thing that the teleprompter got caught in the act and was punished a hefty fine for it.
Who knows though, may be he would have won a lot of money till date using this as his unfair edge.

[Hispo]

So the guy who was fixing Trump's teleprompter was ordered to pay a hefty fine due to betting on prediction markets with insider knowledge on what trump would say.

Do you think this will have an impact on prediction markets? First of all they are treated like betting and secondly the authorities were so swift to issue such judgment. Maybe it's just to throw the book at this guy to show they're doing something though. What do you think?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-teleprompter-operator-ordered-pay-172k-prediction-bets-kalshi-rcna594976

Prediction markets won't change because of a single case of someone getting accountable for their actions. Authorities in the United States will simply throw the book at this guy, as you say, in order to show other possible manipulators that there are consequences to their actions.

In order for prediction markets to actually change in the long term, there must be more transparency, more regulation and to finally define whether sites like Polymarket and Kalshi are actually gambling/betting or not...

Anyways, I thought this guy's would face some long time in prison, unless this fine is just the beginning of his process.

[Tetu100]

Discourage others you say?  Remember this kinda stuff is what involves millions of dollars and who knows if there are more people in the picture that aren't being uncovered yet.

He made 100k in 6 months and his yearly wage was $180k before this. Hardly mafia money!

And you think other persons involved will stop just like that not with the kind of money you're mentioning. This is pretty lucrative and like I said, a very hash penalty for those involved will go a long way in bringing this criminal chains down. Otherwise, there will definitely be a problem.

[stompix]

This is pretty lucrative and like I said, a very hash penalty for those involved will go a long way in bringing this criminal chains down. Otherwise, there will definitely be a problem.

It's not that lucrative as you make it sound..
The whole volume on all Trump's mentions on Kalshi is about 1.5 million, this including the ones that have bet on the same thing you're going to bet, so not only will you have to split your pot with your accomplices but also split this with others winners, the whole thing is dependednt on the money put in, if there is no pot, there is no money to be made.

The obvious proof is how much this guy made with all this insider info for months, 100k...again, this is US money as the people involved will be judging those sums compared to their own wages, not the minimum wage in Botswana.

[Yamane_Keto]

Do you think this will have an impact on prediction markets? First of all they are treated like betting and secondly the authorities were so swift to issue such judgment. Maybe it's just to throw the book at this guy to show they're doing something though. What do you think?

ruling was not issued quickly as it was part of an ongoing investigation.

“A Kalshi surveillance investigation caught a White House staffer engaging in prohibited trading activity. Today this individual was subjected to penalties by the CFTC and by our exchange,” Bobby DeNault, Kalshi’s lead lawyer, said in a post on X.

penalty was not severe it was limited to the disgorgement of $107,539.02 in profits, a $65,000 civil penalty, and a three-year trading ban. Selling the data would have yielded higher profits.

[Hispo]

This is pretty lucrative and like I said, a very hash penalty for those involved will go a long way in bringing this criminal chains down. Otherwise, there will definitely be a problem.

It's not that lucrative as you make it sound..
The whole volume on all Trump's mentions on Kalshi is about 1.5 million, this including the ones that have bet on the same thing you're going to bet, so not only will you have to split your pot with your accomplices but also split this with others winners, the whole thing is dependednt on the money put in, if there is no pot, there is no money to be made.

The obvious proof is how much this guy made with all this insider info for months, 100k...again, this is US money as the people involved will be judging those sums compared to their own wages, not the minimum wage in Botswana.

This reminds me of people who were betting on the devaluation rate of the Argentinian peso on prediction markets, using privileged information. People initially assumed those inside traders/bettors were making fortunes effortlessly, when in reality liquidity on those markets and participation is so low, that they were supposed to use a big amount of money and repeatedly engage in trades in order to see some significant profit...

Regardless of the country though, one hundred thousand dollars is quite a good sum to get by doing basically nothing.

[acroman08]

Do you think this will have an impact on prediction markets? First of all they are treated like betting and secondly the authorities were so swift to issue such judgment. Maybe it's just to throw the book at this guy to show they're doing something though. What do you think?

I'm not sure if it will, but what happened to this white house telepromter, will be a warning to people who practice insider trading on prediction markets in the US. To be honest, I thought the guy would be jailed for it, but I guess what he did or maybe the amount he won from Kalshi, isn't enough to warrant jail time.