Michele Spagnuolo, a Google staff information security engineer, was arrested in New York on Wednesday and charged with insider trading for using confidential internal data to place bets on Polymarket, a prediction market platform [1, 2]. Authorities allege he made approximately $1.2 million in profits by betting that singer d4vd would become Google's most searched person in 2025 [1, 2].
Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen living in Switzerland who has worked at Google for more than 12 years, used internal marketing data obtained via a Google employee tool to inform his bets between October and December 2025 [1]. He placed about $2.7 million in Google-related bets on Polymarket during that period, trading under the account name "AlphaRaccoon," which the FBI linked to him through identification data [1, 2].
Google said it is cooperating with law enforcement and has placed Spagnuolo on leave. A spokeswoman said, "The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies. We're working with law enforcement on their investigation. We have placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action" [1, 2].
Polymarket also cooperated with authorities. A spokesman said, "Blockchain trading is transparent, traceable, and bad actors leave footprints," and noted the company's close work with the U.S. Attorney's Office and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). "We are committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets as well as enforcing our rules and working with our regulators and law enforcement" [1, 2].
Spagnuolo faces criminal charges including money laundering, commodities fraud, and wire fraud, along with a civil case from the CFTC [2]. He appeared before a federal magistrate judge and was released on a $2.25 million bond [1, 2].
Spagnuolo began using Polymarket in 2024. Around December 4, 2025, Google publicly announced its "Year in Search 2025" results, after which Spagnuolo's AlphaRaccoon account reportedly made $1.2 million in profits on related bets [1, 2].
His arrest and charges mark one of the first insider trading cases linked to prediction market platforms in the U.S. and highlight increasing scrutiny on the use of confidential corporate data in digital asset trading.
