Google Engineer Charged with $1.2 M Insider Betting on Polymarket Using Secret Search Data
Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo, a 36‑year‑old Italian citizen residing in Switzerland, was arrested in New York and charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud and money‑laundering. Prosecutors allege he accessed Google’s confidential “Year in Search 2025” data through an internal tool and used that non‑public information to place bets on the prediction‑market platform Polymarket under the username “AlphaRaccoon”.
The insider trades focused on contracts predicting who would be the most‑searched person on Google in 2025. Spagnuolo reportedly wagered on singer D4vd becoming the top‑searched individual – a result the market had priced at near‑zero – and also bet against other high‑profile figures such as Kendrick Lamar, Donald Trump, Pope Leo XIV and Bianca Censori. Between October 15 and December 4 2025 he risked roughly $2.75 million across about 25 contracts and generated more than $1.2 million in profit after the official Year‑in‑Search list was published.
Google placed Spagnuolo on leave and said it is cooperating with federal investigators. Polymarket confirmed it worked closely with authorities and removed the “AlphaRaccoon” handle from the account. Spagnuolo was released on a $2.25 million bond pending further legal proceedings.