Google engineer faces charges of insider trading after reportedly earning $1.2 million from bets placed on Polymarket
Federal prosecutors have charged a Google engineer with utilizing confidential search data to generate $1.2 million through bets on Polymarket.
Federal prosecutors in the US have charged a Google employee with fraud for allegedly using confidential company information to generate approximately $1.2 million from trades associated with the prediction market platform Polymarket.
The employee, Michele Spagnuolo, an information security engineer at Google, faced allegations of utilizing insider access to confidential Google “Year in Search 2025” data to successfully place bets on outcomes related to the company’s annual search rankings. Prosecutors claimed that Spagnuolo utilized the information to accurately foresee that singer d4vd would emerge as Google’s most searched individual of 2025.
The criminal complaint, which was filed in the Southern District of New York and unsealed on Wednesday, accuses Spagnuolo of wire fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering.
As stated in the complaint, Spagnuolo had access to Google’s internal systems, which included a software tool that housed confidential and non-public “Year in Search” data.
“Spagnuolo had access to Google’s internal data systems, including a specific internal software tool that granted him access to confidential, nonpublic Year in Search data,” prosecutors noted in the filing.
Investigators connected Spagnuolo to the Polymarket account “AlphaRaccoon,” which had garnered attention from platform users in December due to its remarkably accurate trades related to Google search contracts.
Prosecutors claimed that following Google’s public release of its Year in Search 2025 results on December 4, 2025, the AlphaRaccoon account accrued around $1.2 million in profits from the trades.
Court documents further alleged that Spagnuolo accurately predicted outcomes in several other search-related markets, including whether New York politician Zohran Mamdani would rank among Google’s top five most searched figures and whether the Netflix series “Squid Game” would become the most searched television show.
Spagnuolo appeared before a federal magistrate judge on Wednesday; however, he did not enter a plea. Reports indicated that he was subsequently released on a bond of $2.25 million.
Google has confirmed its cooperation with law enforcement authorities in the ongoing investigation.
“We are collaborating with law enforcement regarding their investigation,” the company stated. “The employee utilized a tool accessible to all staff to access our marketing material; however, leveraging such confidential information for betting purposes constitutes a significant violation of our policies.”
The company stated that the employee has been placed on leave while awaiting further action.
Polymarket also stated that it collaborated with investigators.
“Polymarket collaborated closely with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the CFTC and is the only prediction platform to date whose cooperation has resulted in insider trading charges in the United States,” a spokesperson for the platform stated.
The spokesperson stated that the company is dedicated to upholding “accurate, fair, and transparent markets” in collaboration with regulators and law enforcement agencies.
In a concurrent civil action, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged Spagnuolo with insider trading, alleging that he sought personal financial benefit from confidential information that was entrusted to him in his capacity at Google.
“Spagnuolo misappropriated the material confidential information by knowingly or recklessly using it to trade the 2025 Year in Search List Contracts, thereby breaching his duties of trust and confidentiality,” the CFTC complaint stated.
The case marks the second significant insider trading investigation concerning Polymarket in recent weeks. In April, US authorities apprehended Gannon Ken Van Dyke, an active Army Special Forces master sergeant, on allegations of utilizing classified information to place bets related to a US operation involving Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Prosecutors stated that Van Dyke earned over $400,000 from the trades.
