Google engineer charged with allegedly using insider information to make $1.2M on Polymarket

Federal prosecutors in New York accused Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo of earning about $1.2 million on betting website Polymarket by using confidential insider information about the most searched people of 2025, CNN reported on Thursday.

According to a criminal complaint, Spagnuolo allegedly operated under the username “AlphaRaccoon” and placed several “yes” and “no” wagers on who would become the most searched person on Google.

"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,” authorities claimed in the complaint.

Spagnuolo faces charges of commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

He appeared in court on Wednesday and was released on a $2.2 million bond, subject to travel restrictions.

Google said Spagnuolo has been placed on leave.

No attorney for Spagnuolo was immediately listed on the court docket.

"We’re working with law enforcement on their investigation. 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,” a Google spokesperson said.

Authorities allege that Spagnuolo used confidential internal Google data to place a series of bets on who would be the most searched person.

According to the complaint, Spagnuolo placed a $381.12 “yes” bet that David Anthony Burke, known as D4vd -- a musician currently in jail on charges of murdering a teenage girl -- would rank among the year’s most searched people, as well as a $5 bet that D4vd would be Google’s top-searched person, despite an implied probability of only slightly above 0%.

Spagnuolo also allegedly wagered $613,000 on “no” for Pope Leo becoming the most searched person and more than $500,000 on “no” for US President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors say he earned more than $1.2 million in profit after Google released its most-searched results.