Google Employee Charged Over Alleged $1.2M Polymarket Insider Trading Scheme

A Google software engineer has been charged over an alleged Polymarket insider trading scheme that prosecutors say generated about $1.2 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Michele Spagnuolo was also named in a parallel Commodity Futures Trading Commission civil complaint. Authorities allege he risked roughly $2.75 million on event contracts linked to confidential Google data.

What Prosecutors Allege

According to the criminal complaint unsealed on May 27, 2026, Spagnuolo used the Polymarket account “AlphaRaccoon” to trade between October and December 2025. He has been charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

The allegations remain unproven, and the case reflects the government’s claims rather than findings of guilt.

How the Trades Were Linked to Google Data

The contracts centered on Google’s 2025 Year in Search results, including markets on the most-searched person and the top five searched people.

Prosecutors and the CFTC allege Spagnuolo accessed unreleased rankings through internal systems, then bought Yes and No shares across at least 23 contracts before the results were announced.

Why the Case Matters for Polymarket and Prediction Markets

The allegations move prediction-market insider risk into corporate territory: private business data that can decide how an event contract settles.

For companies, that raises a policy question. Employee trading rules often focus on securities, but prediction markets can create similar conflicts when staff have access to information other traders do not.

For prediction-market platforms, the challenge is operational. Contracts tied to data controlled by one organization may require closer monitoring of account timing, trading concentration and links between traders and information sources.

What Google and Polymarket Said

Google told AP that the employee accessed marketing material through a tool available to staff, described the alleged conduct as a serious policy violation, placed him on leave and said it is cooperating with authorities.

Polymarket said it cooperated with investigators and pointed to the transparency and traceability of blockchain-based transactions, according to AP.

The harder test is whether platforms and employers can spot the conflict before a market resolves, not only reconstruct it afterward. In this case, the public blockchain record may help investigators. It does not answer the larger control question.