Google engineer charged with insider trading on Polymarket after $1.2M in alleged profits

Federal prosecutors say Michele Spagnuolo used confidential search data to win 22 out of 23 bets on Google's Year in Search rankings.

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Add us on Google by Editorial Team May. 28, 2026

A Google software engineer based in Switzerland has been charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly using confidential internal search data to place winning bets on Polymarket, the crypto prediction market platform. The scheme reportedly netted more than $1.2 million in profits.

Michele Spagnuolo, who operated under the handle “AlphaRaccoon” on Polymarket, was arrested in New York on May 27 after the Department of Justice unsealed its complaint. He faces charges including commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

This is the second known federal prosecution involving insider trading on a prediction market, according to the DOJ.

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How the scheme allegedly worked

The DOJ complaint alleges that Spagnuolo accessed Google’s proprietary internal software to obtain non-public search ranking data. He then used that information to predict outcomes in markets tied to Google’s annual “Year in Search” rankings for 2025.

Google publishes a list every year of its most-searched terms. Polymarket let users bet on what those top search terms would be. Spagnuolo allegedly already knew the answers before placing his bets.

Spagnuolo reportedly hit a 22-for-23 success rate on Google-related trades — a 95.6% win rate. On-chain analysts first flagged the unusual betting pattern as early as December 2025.

Prediction markets meet federal prosecutors

Polymarket operates on the Polygon blockchain and has positioned itself as a real-time barometer of collective intelligence, drawing billions of dollars in trading volume across political elections, economic indicators, and cultural events during 2024 and 2025.

Google hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing, but the case highlights how employees at major tech companies sit atop vast reservoirs of commercially sensitive data.

What this means for investors and the prediction market ecosystem

The charges — commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering — carry serious prison time. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has already been expanding its jurisdiction over crypto derivatives and event contracts.

The prosecution makes clear that using internal corporate data access for personal gain on prediction markets is not a loophole. It’s a federal crime.

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