Google infosec engineer charged with insider trading
Jump to main content
REG AD
Legal
Google engineer accused of turning Year in Search secrets into Polymarket payday Feds say insider used confidential search trend data to score $1.2M in prediction market profits
Connor Jones Connor Jones
Cybersecurity reporter
Published thu 28 May 2026 // 11:50 UTC
A long-serving Google engineer based in Zurich faces charges in the US for allegedly profiting from confidential company information by making Polymarket bets.According to court documents, between October and December 2025, Italian national Michele Spagnuolo, 36, made a series of bets using confidential data related to Google's annual Year in Search report. What started out with a few hundred dollars placed on Kendrick Lamar being named the most-searched individual in 2025 turned into $2.75 million worth of bets related to whether specific individuals would or would not be named the most-searched in Google's Year in Search.
REG AD
The criminal complaint filed regarding Spagnuolo's alleged offenses related to the following bets:
REG AD
$403 for Kendrick Lamar to be most-searched at 3 percent probability $10,807 on Pope Leo XIV not being the most-searched person $381.12 for D4vd to be among the top five most-searched individuals, with implied odds reflecting an 18 percent probability. This bet was made after allegedly re-accessing Year in Search data in November, which had changed since the last time he allegedly accessed it in October$5 for D4vd to be most-searched at a probability of only slightly higher than 0 percent$937,688 for Bianca Censori to not be the most-searched at 85 percent probability$509,149 for Donald Trump to not be the most-searched at 90 percent probability$171,612 for Donald Trump not to be among the top five most-searched at 66 percent probabilityAfter Google released its Year in Search for 2025 on December 4, Spagnuolo allegedly made approximately $1.2 million in profits from the bets made by the AlphaRaccoon account on Polymarket.Investigating the matter, Brandon Racz, special agent at the FBI who sought Spagnuolo's arrest warrant, stated that the AlphaRaccoon account, which was allegedly controlled by the Italian, appeared to empty the contents of its wallet into other exchanges.The FBI believes Spagnuolo was trying to launder the proceeds of his bets. After the contents of AlphaRaccoon's Polymarket wallet – 5.045 million USDC.e – were transferred out, blockchain data showed a series of subsequent transactions. MORE CONTEXT Google has seriously leaned into AI enshittification lately
Google accused of pushing 'free for life' G Suite users onto paid plans
Former FinWise employee may have accessed nearly 700K customer records
Coinbase confirms insiders handed over data of 70K users
These included at least two with a decentralized cryptocurrency swapping service and one with a cryptocurrency transfer service that markets itself as protecting privacy by removing wallet addresses from a blockchain.The criminal complaint [PDF] also notes that the FBI was scouring social media discussions about AlphaRaccoon's profits.Investigators highlighted conversations that occurred shortly after Year in Search was published in December, with users speculating that AlphaRaccoon was a Google insider. Commercial value The FBI stated in its arrest warrant application that the commercial value of Google's Year in Search marketing campaign is rooted in the surprise factor of the results.It also said that the campaign serves as a commercially important barometer for Google to assert its dominance in the search market, and accessing data before it's made public, not least profiting from it, is harmful to the tech giant.The data that underpins Year in Search is restricted to Googlers. Only a limited number of employees are able to access it, including Spagnuolo.According to screenshots of the software used to access the data, seen by the FBI, the word "Confidential" is displayed in a banner, written in red text.
Following his arrest on May 27, Spagnuolo faces charges related to commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, which together carry a combined maximum sentence of 50 years.
REG AD
"Today's charges reinforce a decades-old message: corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to turn a profit in our markets," said US attorney Jay Clayton. "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. Insider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted.""Michele Spagnuolo allegedly abused his elevated access to confidential trends to place bets with nonpublic information and receive more than one million dollars in unlawful profits," said FBI assistant director in charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. "The FBI remains dedicated to searching for fraudsters who betray their employer for personal financial gains." ®
fraud cryptocurrency google insider trading polymarket legal
REG AD
public sector
ICE to keep an eye on your eyes under $25M biometric scanner deal
And you thought a face recognition app was intrusive?
Security
No fix yet for critical RCE bug in open-source Git service Gogs - exploit module is out
Researcher reported the vuln in March. Maintainers haven't responded to his messages since
PARTNER CONTENT
AI and data sovereignty in Postgres: An answer to the datacenter energy crisis
A billion AI agents walk into a power grid
Legal
23andMe inherits lawsuit over 'disturbing' DNA data breach
California AG claims genetics biz downplayed 2023 mega-leak while paying ransom to attacker
Systems
EU's digital sovereignty boo-boo may be the best thing to ever happen to the project
DIY or die. Just don't let the CIA buy it
software
UCLA seeks pre-litigation resolution with Oracle
Discussion understood to concern delayed SaaS transformation project
MOST POPULAR