Google engineer charged in $1.2M Polymarket case
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A Google engineer is accused of using confidential company data to make $1.2 million from placing bets on Polymarket, according to a newly unsealed federal complaint.
Why it matters: The case marks another aggressive effort by federal prosecutors to police insider-information schemes tied to prediction markets.
The big picture: Michele Spagnuolo is accused of misappropriating "confidential and valuable nonpublic information from his employer" and "using it to place Google-related bets," according to the complaint unsealed in the Southern District of New York on Wednesday.
- Betting on what users were searching for on Google, he is alleged to have known the outcomes before the trading public did "because he had accessed Google's confidential, commercially valuable internal data," the complaint says.
Driving the news: The 36-year-old Italian citizen was arrested in New York on Wednesday and did not enter a plea during his appearance before a federal magistrate judge on charges of commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, ABC News first reported.
- He was "released on a $2.25 million bond, secured by $1 million cash, $50,000 of which needs to be posted Wednesday," per ABC.
Zoom in: Spagnuolo is accused of making 16 transfers on Polymarket from about last October to at least December under the name "AlphaRaccoon."
- He allegedly placed "large wagers" after accessing Google's confidential Year in Search 2025 data, including that the singer d4vd would be the most-searched person of the year.
- The complaint alleges that Spagnuolo "took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information" after he won "by attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his unlawful proceeds."
Of note: This is the second case Southern District of New York prosecutors have brought this year.
- In the first case, U.S. special forces soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke pleaded not guilty last month to charges of using classified information about the raid to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to profit from placing wagers on Polymarket.
What they're saying: "We're working with law enforcement on their investigation," a Google spokesperson 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've placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action."
Read the complaint, via DocumentCloud:
