Google engineer charged with using inside information to win $1.2M on Polymarket

A Google information security engineer has been charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering after allegedly using confidential internal data to pocket roughly $1.2 million on Polymarket. The case appears to be the first time federal prosecutors have brought insider trading charges involving a decentralized prediction market.

Michele Spagnuolo, 36, was named in a complaint unsealed on May 27 in the Southern District of New York. He appeared in court the same day and was released on a $2.25 million bond.

The scheme: search data meets prediction markets

Every December, Google publishes its Year in Search results, a widely followed ranking of the most-searched people, topics, and events of the year. Spagnuolo, operating under the Polymarket alias “AlphaRaccoon,” allegedly had access to non-public search trend data that was restricted to a limited group of Google employees. Between October and December 2025, he placed a series of bets predicting that singer D4vd would be named the top-searched person in Google’s Year in Search 2025. On December 4, 2025, Google made that result official.

The profits totaled approximately $1.2 million.

A legal first for prediction markets

Polymarket, which operates on the Polygon blockchain, has grown into one of the most prominent prediction markets in crypto. It surged in visibility during the 2024 US presidential election, when its betting odds became a fixture of cable news coverage. The platform allows users to wager on the outcomes of everything from elections and economic data releases to pop culture events.

Polymarket previously settled with the CFTC in 2022. US Attorney Jay Clayton’s office pursued the case as part of a broader push to prosecute offenses that undermine market integrity, regardless of whether those markets run on blockchains or traditional infrastructure.

The charges themselves tell the story of how prosecutors are framing this. Commodities fraud suggests they view Polymarket contracts as commodities. Wire fraud covers the mechanics of executing the scheme. Money laundering addresses what happened to the proceeds.

What this means for prediction market participants

The line being drawn here is between having better analysis and having access to material non-public information obtained through a position of trust. The fact that Spagnuolo’s trades happened on a blockchain, pseudonymously, through a crypto wallet, didn’t shield him from prosecution. Every transaction on Polygon is recorded on a public ledger, and the “AlphaRaccoon” account’s betting pattern would have been visible to anyone looking.

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