A Google engineer was charged with insider trading after he made $1.2 million on Polymarket

The US Department of Justice has charged Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo with insider trading, alleging that the employee made a $1.2 million trade on Polymarket based on confidential trading information.

Spagnuolo, who used the name “AlphaRaccoon” at Polymarket, has worked at Google for more than 12 years, according to information on LinkedIn.

“As alleged, Spagnuolo violated duties owed to his employer and used confidential Google business information to generate business profits of more than $1.2 million at Polymarket,” Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a news release. “Insider trading puts the integrity of our markets at risk, and the American people want this greed-driven behavior investigated and prosecuted.”

Prediction markets like Polymarket, Kalshi, and others allow users to bet on almost anything. Insider trading is not allowed on these platforms because it is illegal, but some users still commit the crime. The Department of Justice recently charged a US Army soldier for allegedly using his inside knowledge of the US military operation to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to make $400,000 from PoleMarket.

According to the complaint, Spagnuolo risked more than $2.7 million on bets related to Google’s 2025 Year in Search, a marketing campaign in which Google reveals the world’s most popular searches for the year. Spagnuolo allegedly accessed secret internal Google search data about the most searched celebrities to inform his bets.

“Polymarket has worked closely with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and is the only forecasting platform to date whose collaboration has led to insider trading charges in the US,” a Polymarket spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Blockchain trading is transparent and traceable, and bad actors leave their mark. We are committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets as well as enforcing our rules and working with our regulators and law enforcement.”

A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company is working with law enforcement in its investigation.

“The employee accessed our marketing materials using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to bet is a serious violation of our policies,” Google said in an email statement.