Google engineer charged with insider trading on Polymarket after alleged $1.2M profit
Michele Spagnuolo allegedly used internal search data to bet on Google's Year in Search results under the pseudonym AlphaRaccoon.
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Add us on Google by Editorial Team May. 27, 2026A Google cybersecurity engineer allegedly turned his access to internal search trend data into a $1.2 million payday on Polymarket. Federal prosecutors in New York charged Michele Spagnuolo, a 36-year-old Staff Information Security Engineer, with using confidential company information to place bets on a blockchain-based prediction market.
The charges, unsealed on May 27, include commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Spagnuolo was arrested the same day and later released on a $2.25 million bond.
The AlphaRaccoon scheme
Spagnuolo allegedly used nonpublic search trend data from an internal Google tool to predict the outcome of Google’s Year in Search 2025, the company’s annual recap of the most-searched terms and people. He reportedly bet that singer D4vd would be named the most searched person, a result announced publicly on December 4, 2025.
AdvertisementHis Polymarket account was registered under the pseudonym AlphaRaccoon.
Prosecutors allege that after racking up substantial profits, Spagnuolo attempted to conceal where the money came from. The specifics of those concealment efforts landed him the money laundering charge on top of the fraud counts.
A Google spokesperson confirmed that Spagnuolo had access to marketing data through an internal tool and called the situation a serious violation of company policy.
A pattern emerges for prediction markets
This isn’t the first time the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has brought insider trading charges connected to Polymarket in 2026. The first case involved a US special forces soldier who allegedly placed bets related to a military operation in Venezuela.
Polymarket is reportedly implementing additional security measures in response to these incidents.
What this means for investors
The charges brought against Spagnuolo aren’t novel crypto-specific statutes. They’re commodities fraud and wire fraud, the same tools prosecutors use against insider trading on Wall Street.
The irony of Spagnuolo’s case is hard to miss. He worked in information security at one of the world’s most data-rich companies, and allegedly used that position to exploit a market built on the premise that decentralized information leads to better price discovery.
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