A longtime Google security engineer has been accused of using confidential company data to place illicit Polymarket bets that won him $1.2 million — the latest alleged case of insider trading on a prediction market, according to federal prosecutors.
Michele Spagnuolo, 36, an Italian citizen living in Switzerland who has worked at Google since 2014, has been charged with one count each of commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, according to a complaint unsealed in New York City on Wednesday.
Under a Polymarket account named “AlphaRaccoon,” the techie allegedly made a series of bets between October and December last year using confidential Google search data that reaped more than $1.2 million — and then took steps to try to cover his tracks, prosecutors alleged.
Spagnuolo won big after correctly wagering that D4vd — the singer accused of brutally killing and dismembering a 14-year-old girl with a chainsaw — would be Google’s most-searched person of the year in 2025, according to the complaint.
At the time the “AlphaRaccoon” account made a $381.12 bet on D4vd, Polymarket had “assigned a near-zero probability” of the singer emerging as the most-searched person, legal documents said.
But internal Google search data that Spagnuolo had allegedly accessed just three hours before making the wager showed D4vd had replaced front-runner Kendrick Lamar as the most-searched person of the year, according to prosecutors.
“Once he won, Spagnuolo then took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information by attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his unlawful proceeds,” the complaint said.
Google told The Post that Spagnuolo was able to access the company information through “a tool available to all employees,” but the use of that data to make wagers is a policy violation.
“We’re working with law enforcement on their investigation,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “We’ve placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action.”
A spokesperson for Polymarket said the company remains committed to fair and transparent markets, as well as enforcing its rules against insider trading.
“Polymarket worked closely with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the [Commodity Futures Trading Commission], and is the only prediction platform to date whose cooperation has led to insider trading charges in the United States,” the spokesperson told The Post.
It’s the second criminal case involving alleged insider trading on Polymarket.
A US soldier was charged in April with using classified information to rake in more than $400,000 from Polymarket bets around the timing of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s capture.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer last week demanded information from the CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket amid mounting accusations of government insiders using internal information to profit off the Iran war and other political events.
Both Kalshi and Polymarket vowed to engage with the committee.
In February, activity surged on Polymarket as suspected insiders made more than $1 million from contracts tied to the US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran — including an alleged $550,000 windfall related to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is reportedly investigating a batch of suspiciously well-timed oil trades worth more than $800 million that were made just moments before President Trump halted strikes on Iranian infrastructure in March.
Spagnuolo did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
“Today’s charges reinforce a decades-old message: corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to turn a profit in our markets,” Jay Clayton, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a Wednesday statement.
“Insider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted.”
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