Google Engineer Arrested for Allegedly Using Insider Information in Trading
A Google security engineer was arrested for allegedly leveraging confidential data to profit over $1 million in trading on Polymarket, a prediction market platform.
Michele Spagnuolo, a security engineer at Google, has been charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering for allegedly using confidential internal information to make trades on Polymarket. Arrested in New York, the 36-year-old Italian citizen has been with Google since 2014.
According to federal prosecutors, Spagnuolo allegedly placed bets on the platform, including a notable one regarding who would be Google's most-searched person in 2025, correctly predicting the now-infamous singer D4vd. "Unlike the counterparties to his trades, Spagnuolo knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google’s confidential, commercially valuable internal data," stated FBI agent Brandon Racz in the complaint.
This incident marks the second known arrest linked to illicit activities on prediction markets in the U.S., following a similar case involving a U.S. Army officer earlier this year. A Google spokesperson confirmed that the company is cooperating with law enforcement and that Spagnuolo has been placed on leave as a result of his actions.
Polymarket representatives mentioned their collaboration with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, asserting their commitment to maintaining transparent and fair trading practices. They noted that all transactions on their platform are public and traceable, aiming to deter insider trading and market manipulation. Following Spagnuolo’s arrest, there are renewed discussions about regulatory oversight on prediction markets, with officials like CFTC chairman Michael Selig exploring advanced tools to identify such misconduct.