Insider Trading Scandal: Google Employee Accused of Winning $1.2 Million on Polymarket

Federal Prosecutors Charge Google Employee with Fraud for Insider Trading on Polymarket

A Google employee has been charged with fraud by federal prosecutors after allegedly making $1.2 million on Polymarket bets related to Search-related trends in 2025. ABC News first reported the incident. According to the now-unsealed complaint, Michele Spagnuolo is accused of having prior knowledge of the outcomes of these wagers due to accessing Google’s confidential internal data. Spagnuolo was arrested in New York and later released on a $2.25 million bond. The charges against him include commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

Under the username AlphaRacoon, Spagnuolo placed successful bets on Polymarket that attracted attention from outlets like Forbes and social media users in December. One notable instance was when he correctly predicted that singer D4vd would become the #1 searched person on Google in 2025, despite Polymarket assigning a “near-zero probability.”

Spagnuolo also allegedly bet against Pope Leo XIV and Kendrick Lamar appearing on Google’s “Year in Search 2025” lists, which are challenging to predict due to their calculation method. Google bases its rankings on the highest increase in traffic for terms between January 1st, 2025 and November 25th, 2025, rather than the total number of searches. This approach helps identify trends unique to the year.

The complaint states that Spagnuolo took steps to conceal his use of nonpublic information after winning, attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his proceeds. Another recent case involved US Army soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who was charged with fraud for a $400,000 Polymarket bet on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Polymarket labeled itself as the “enforcement leader” in a statement about the incident, highlighting its market integrity infrastructure that detected Spagnuolo’s activities. The company emphasized the transparency and traceability of blockchain trading, noting that bad actors leave identifiable traces.

Google responded to the situation, stating that the employee accessed confidential information through a tool available to all employees but misused it by placing bets. The employee has been placed on leave, and appropriate action will be taken, according to Google spokesperson Jaclyn Vazquez in a statement to The Verge.