Google Employee Charged with Insider Trading Using Confidential Information
A Google employee, Michele Spagnuolo, has been charged with fraud for allegedly profiting $1.2 million through insider trading on Polymarket, using confidential data about Google's most searched person.
Federal prosecutors have charged Michele Spagnuolo, a staff information security engineer at Google, with fraud in connection with a scheme that allegedly generated $1.2 million in profit through insider trading on Polymarket. The complaint, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, accuses Spagnuolo of using confidential information to correctly bet that singer d4vd would become Google’s most searched person in 2025.
According to the complaint, Spagnuolo had access to Google’s internal data systems, including a tool that provided him with confidential Year in Search data. He was identified as the user behind the account “AlphaRaccoon,” which was flagged for suspicious trades in December. Following Google’s official announcement of its Year in Search results in December 2025, Spagnuolo’s account reportedly profited $1.2 million from related bets.
After being arrested on Wednesday, Spagnuolo appeared before a federal judge but did not enter a plea, and he has been released on a $2.25 million bond. Google acknowledged its employee’s breach of policy, stating it is cooperating with law enforcement and has placed Spagnuolo on leave. A spokesperson from Polymarket noted the platform's cooperation has led to the only insider trading charges in the U.S. to date. Spagnuolo is also facing a civil case from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, marking the second significant insider trading case involving Polymarket in recent weeks.