Google Engineer Charged With $1.2M Polymarket Insider Trades
Cover image from theregister.com, which was analyzed for this article
A Google engineer allegedly used internal Year in Search data to profit on Polymarket prediction markets, leading to DOJ charges.
PoliticalOS
Thursday, May 28, 2026 — Tech
A Google engineer with restricted access to internal search-trend data is accused of converting that information into $1.2 million on a public prediction platform. The case tests enforcement boundaries around nonpublic corporate information in markets that settle on verifiable public outcomes.
What outlets missed
Neither outlet examined how Polymarket's structure—real-money contracts on verifiable public events—creates recurring opportunities for any employee with advance knowledge of corporate announcements. The Register listed individual bet sizes but did not address whether Google's access logs or anomaly detection systems flagged the repeated queries before external speculation on social media. Business Insider noted state-level restrictions yet omitted any discussion of how prediction-market operators currently verify user employment or data access at companies whose announcements they host markets on.
Federal prosecutors charged a Google engineer with using nonpublic company data to place more than $2.75 million in bets on Polymarket, generating roughly $1.2 million in profits before the trades were detected.
Michele Spagnuolo, 36, an Italian national working as a staff information security engineer in Zurich, allegedly accessed Google's internal Year in Search dataset multiple times between October and December 2025. Court filings describe an account named AlphaRaccoon that placed small initial wagers on search rankings for figures including Kendrick Lamar and later scaled up to positions exceeding $900,000 on outcomes involving Bianca Censori and Donald Trump. The data carried explicit confidentiality markings and was restricted to a limited group of employees.
After Google published its Year in Search report on December 4, 2025, the account converted its holdings into approximately $1.2 million in realized gains, according to the criminal complaint. Blockchain records cited by the FBI show the wallet's 5.045 million USDC.e balance was then moved through decentralized exchanges and privacy services. Spagnuolo was arrested on May 27.
The charges—commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering—carry a combined maximum penalty of 50 years. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton stated that corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to profit in markets. FBI Assistant Director James C. Barnacle Jr. said the case targets employees who betray employers for personal financial gain.
Prediction markets have drawn separate regulatory attention. Minnesota recently enacted a ban scheduled for August, and federal lawmakers have introduced measures aimed at restricting such platforms. Polymarket maintains that it blocks certain high-risk participants in advance.
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