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Google employee charged with using inside information to make $1 million on Polymarket
Prosecutors say Michele Spagnuolo used confidential Google search data to make sure bets on Polymarket and concealed more than $1 million in gains.
- Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo was arrested Wednesday in New York after federal prosecutors unsealed charges of commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, alleging he fraudulently made more than $1 million through Polymarket bets.
- Spagnuolo's access to Google's confidential search data enabled him to bet through an account named AlphaRaccoon that singer D4vd would rank as Google's most-searched person in 2025—a prediction Polymarket assigned near-zero probability to.
- Prosecutors alleged that unlike other traders, Spagnuolo "knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google's confidential, commercially valuable internal data." After winning, he "took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information."
- Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen, was arrested in New York and scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate Wednesday, though it remained unclear whether he had secured legal counsel.
- This case marks the second prediction market prosecution by the Southern District of New York this year; soldier Gannon Van Dyke pleaded not guilty last month to similar charges involving Polymarket bets on the classified Venezuela raid that ousted Nicholas Maduro.
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Google engineer Michele Spagnuolo faces fraud charges for alleged insider bets on Polymarket, netting $1.2M from Google Year in Search data.
·United States
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Google engineer made $1.2M by placing bets on Polymarket using confidential info, prosecutors allege
A Google software engineer was accused Wednesday of using confidential company information to make over $1.2 million on Polymarket in the second significant criminal case tied to trades on the prediction market platform.
·United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources67
Leaning Left15Leaning Right4Center18Last UpdatedBias Distribution49% Center
Bias Distribution
- 49% of the sources are Center
49% Center
L 40%
C 49%
11%
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