A Google data safety engineer has been arrested and charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and cash laundering after allegedly utilizing confidential inner firm knowledge to position a collection of bets on Polymarket — the crypto-based prediction market platform — successful roughly $1.2 million by realizing the outcomes of his wagers earlier than the buying and selling public did.
The US Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York unsealed the criticism in opposition to Michele Spagnuolo, 36 — additionally identified by his Polymarket account alias “AlphaRaccoon” — on Could 27, 2026. Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen residing in Switzerland, was arrested in New York and appeared earlier than US Justice of the Peace Decide Sarah Netburn, the place he was launched on a $2.25 million bond secured by $1 million in money, per the DOJ’s official assertion. He didn’t enter a plea.
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How The Scheme Labored
In response to the unsealed criticism, Spagnuolo had entry to an inner Google software program instrument — bearing a banner marked “Google Confidential” in purple textual content — that supplied real-time visibility into what customers have been looking out throughout Google’s platform, together with knowledge that fed instantly into Google’s annual “12 months in Search” rankings, per the DOJ submitting.
Starting in Could 2024, Spagnuolo created a Polymarket account and started inserting bets on contracts tied to which people would rank on Google’s most-searched listing for 2025 — markets Polymarket launched final fall, per the criticism.
Prosecutors allege Spagnuolo transferred roughly $3.8 million in USDC to his Polymarket deal with and positioned bets together with a $381.12 “sure” wager that the artist d4vd would rank in Google’s most-searched listing and accurately predicted contracts equivalent to “Will Zohran Mamdani rank within the Prime 5 most searched” and “Will Squid Sport be the primary searched TV present,” per CNBC’s reporting of the criticism. His success charge throughout these markets was, in accordance with the criticism, no accident. He knew the solutions earlier than the markets settled.
The CFTC filed a simultaneous civil case in opposition to Spagnuolo in search of financial disgorgement, restitution, and extra penalties, per the criticism. Google confirmed it had positioned Spagnuolo on depart and was cooperating with legislation enforcement — noting that the instrument he used was technically obtainable to all staff, however that utilizing confidential data to position bets represented a severe breach of firm coverage, per an announcement reported by ABC Information.
The Second Case In Thirty Days
The Spagnuolo arrest is the second federal legal case tied to Polymarket insider buying and selling in simply over a month. In April 2026, US Military Particular Forces Grasp Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke was arrested for allegedly utilizing categorised navy information of the deliberate seize of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to position bets on Polymarket, reportedly netting greater than $400,000. Van Dyke has pleaded not responsible, per CNN’s reporting.
Polymarket’s chief authorized officer Olivia Chalos mentioned in an announcement that the corporate labored carefully with the US Legal professional’s Workplace and the CFTC on the Spagnuolo case — noting that Polymarket is the one prediction platform thus far whose cooperation has led to insider buying and selling prices in the USA, and that the blockchain-based nature of the platform means unhealthy actors depart footprints.
This growth marks a vital and accelerating second for the nascent prediction market sector. Two federal insider buying and selling arrests in thirty days — one involving navy categorised data, the opposite company search knowledge — arriving concurrently with an lively congressional investigation into Polymarket and Kalshi, confirms that the authorized perimeter round prediction markets is closing quick. The transparency of blockchain buying and selling, as soon as seen primarily as a function for customers, is now functioning as a forensic path for federal prosecutors.
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