Google employee accused of making over $1.2M on Polymarket through insider trading
A Google software engineer has been charged in federal court with using confidential company data to bet on Polymarket, allegedly earning more than $1.2 million, in what prosecutors say is the second insider-trading-related case tied to the prediction market in recent months.
According to court filings unsealed Wednesday, Michele Spagnuolo used an internal Google tool last year to access nonpublic data on “Year in Search 2025” trends. He then allegedly placed large bets on Polymarket predicting which public figures would rank among Google’s most searched names, weeks before that data was released publicly.
One of his most notable bets involved singer D4vd, who ultimately became the most-searched person of 2025 after drawing widespread attention following a criminal case linked to a 14-year-old murder victim found in a car registered to him. Using the Polymarket account “AlphaRaccoon,” Spagnuolo allegedly bet that D4vd would appear near the top of the list at a time when the market treated that outcome as highly unlikely.
After Google published its Year in Search report, Spagnuolo’s account reportedly transferred millions in crypto to a separate wallet. Prosecutors charged him with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, and the CFTC filed a parallel civil case.
Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen living in Switzerland, was arrested in New York, released on a $2.25 million bond, and placed on leave by Google. The company said he accessed internal marketing data through tools available to employees but called using it for trading a serious policy violation.
Polymarket said it flagged the activity and cooperated with investigators, calling itself transparent and noting it referred the case to authorities. The case follows another recent prosecution involving a U.S. special forces soldier accused of profiting from bets tied to a classified military operation, raising broader concerns about insider trading risks on prediction markets.
