Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP / Getty Images
A Google software engineer, Michele Spagnuolo, is facing serious charges in New York federal court for allegedly using insider information to make over $1 million on Polymarket, a prediction market platform. According to a federal criminal complaint, Spagnuolo, 36, misused confidential data from Google to place bets on the platform. He allegedly used an account under the name AlphaRaccoon to predict that the most-searched person on Google in 2025 would be the singer known as D4vd. At the time of his bet, Polymarket assigned a near-zero probability to this outcome. However, Spagnuolo's insider knowledge gave him an unfair advantage, allowing him to profit $1.2 million once Google announced its Year in Search 2025 results on December 4, 2025.
The complaint further accuses Spagnuolo of attempting to conceal his actions by obscuring the source and ownership of his illegal gains. He was arrested in New York and appeared before a federal magistrate judge, but did not enter a plea. He was released on a $2.25 million bond, with $1 million cash required. Google has placed Spagnuolo on leave and is cooperating with law enforcement. A spokesperson stated that using confidential information to place bets is a severe breach of company policy.
This is the second case this year involving Polymarket and insider trading. In a separate incident, Army Special Forces sergeant Gannon Van Dyke was charged for betting on the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, leveraging his involvement in the planning of the raid.