The U.S. Justice Department charged Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo with insider trading, following accusations he made $1.2 million trading on Polymarket based on confidential business information. Spagnulo, who used the name “AlphaRaccoon” on Polymarket, has worked at Google for over 12 years, according to his LinkedIn.
“As alleged, Spagnuolo violated the duties he owed to his employer and used Google’s confidential business information to make more than $1.2 million in trading profits on Polymarket,” Jay Clayton, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press release. “Insider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted.”
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Polymarket is a “predictions market,” which allows users to bet on anything. While insider trading is banned from such platforms since it is illegal, some users still end up doing it. Recently, a U.S. army soldier was charged for making $40,000 by betting on the capture of the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro allegedly using insider information about U.S. military operations.
Spagnuolo risked over $2.7 million on wagers related to Google’s 2025 Year in Search, a marketing campaign in which Google reveals the world’s most popular searches of the year, according to the complaint. Spagnuolo allegedly accessed confidential, internal Google Search data about the most-searched celebrities to inform his bets.
“Polymarket worked closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the CFTC, and is the only prediction platform to date whose cooperation has led to insider trading charges in the United States,” a Polymarket spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Blockchain trading is transparent, traceable, and bad actors leave footprints. We are committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets as well as enforcing our rules and working with our regulators and law enforcement.”
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A TechCrunch report mentioned that the company is working with law enforcement on its investigation.
“The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies,” Google said in an emailed statement, “We’ve placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action.”
Previously, other prediction markets Coinbase and Gemini were sued by the New York attorney general, over the allegation that the companies’ unregulated and unlicensed platforms are illegal gambling operations.