US authorities have charged a Google employee with allegedly using the company’s information to place bets on Polymarket and make a profit of $1.2 million.
Department of Justice he said on Wednesday revealed charges against Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo, accusing him of accessing unpublished internal information at Google and placing 25 bets worth $2.7 million on markets related to the most searched people on Google in 2025.
Prosecutors said Spagnuolo owned the Polymarket account “AlphaRaccoon,” which made $1.2 million on “results that the market considered unlikely” when Google released information about the most searched people in December.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed on Wednesday, a twin complaint was filed against Spagnuolo with similar allegations of insider trading.
Prediction markets face growing scrutiny over insider trading, with Congress opening an investigation into Polymarket and Kalshi on Friday, questioning the companies’ response to insider trading on the platform, and lawmakers concerned that government officials are using insider knowledge to place bets.
Manhattan District Attorney Jay Clayton he said in a statement that the allegations “reinforce a decades-old message: corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to profit in our markets.”
Source: United States Attorney Southern District of Novel York
The AlphaRaccoon account has allegedly changed its name
Court documents show that in December, the Discord and X communities began discussing the possibility that AlphaRaccoon was a Google insider. Shortly thereafter, the username was allegedly changed to a wallet address.
Prosecutors alleged that funds in the AlphaRaccoon account were also sent to a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange service and to an unnamed transfer service that provides privacy protection for blockchain transactions
The Justice Department charged Spagnuolo with commercial fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison.
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In its complaint, the CFTC seeks compensatory relief, relief, civil monetary penalties, and a trading and registration injunction.
CFTC Director of Enforcement David Miller said in a statement that “the division does an excellent job of policing the illegal use of confidential information in the forecast markets and other markets under the CFTC’s jurisdiction.”
Source: CFTC
“We will continue to take action to protect markets from insider trading and other forms of fraud, abuse and manipulation,” Miller added.
The ruling came after the Justice Department in April accused a U.S. soldier of using classified information to place bets on the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
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