{"id":277,"date":"2026-05-29T16:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T16:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=277"},"modified":"2026-05-29T16:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T16:15:13","slug":"prosecutors-issue-google-insider-trading-charges-after-an-employee-made-more-than-1-2-million-on-polymarket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=277","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutors issue Google insider trading charges after an employee made more than $1.2 million on Polymarket"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a complaint unsealed in New York, authorities identified the employee as 36-year-old Michele Spagnuolo \u2014 an Italian citizen residing in Switzerland who has worked for Google since 2014. Under the online name \u201cAlphaRaccoon,\u201d they alleged, Spagnuolo used the company\u2019s 2025\u00a0\u201cYear in Search\u201d\u00a0data before it was published to enter Polymarket wagers about the most trending Googled people of last year.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump may be a lame duck even before the midterms\u2014he primaried all the senators whose votes he needs<\/a><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s charges \u201creinforce a decades-old message: corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to turn a profit in our markets,\u201d Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Wednesday. \u201cInsider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Spagnuolo allegedly made new Polymarket trades as Google\u2019s internal search data evolved, from October into December of last year. For example, per the complaint, Spagnuolo initially wagered that Kendrick Lamar \u2014\u00a0who headlined\u00a0the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show \u2014 would top search trends for people last year. But after internal Google data showed that\u00a0alt-pop singer D4vd\u00a0was later leading the influx of searches, he placed new bets. D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was\u00a0charged last month\u00a0with murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.<\/p>\n

Using the prediction market\u2019s \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d wagers, Spagnuolo also made a series of Polymarket trades about other individuals who would or wouldn\u2019t rank in Google\u2019s 2025 search trends, the complaint said. And after the data was published on Dec. 4, the AlphaRaccoon account soon pocketed sizeable profits. An FBI investigation later traced its cryptocurrency payments.<\/p>\n

An attorney for Spagnuolo was not immediately identified. California-based Google confirmed to The Associated Press it had placed its employee on leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies,\u201d a Google spokesperson said in a statement \u2014 adding the company was working with law enforcement and \u201cwill take the appropriate action.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Polymarket reiterated it too worked closely with authorities. A spokesperson also touted that the company \u201cis the only prediction platform to date whose cooperation has led to insider trading charges in the United States\u201d \u2014 and maintained blockchain trading, which Polymarket uses, is \u201ctransparent, traceable, and bad actors leave footprints.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spagnuolo isn\u2019t first person to face insider trading charges spanning from Polymarket trades. Last month, the government also charged a special forces soldier who made over $400,000 from Polymarket trades betting on the downfall of former\u00a0Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. The solider allegedly used classified information ahead of January\u2019s U.S. military operation, which he was a part of.<\/p>\n

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Such scandals have put the spotlight on a\u00a0murky (and growing) world\u00a0of speculative, 24\/7 transactions now\u00a0filling the internet. Prediction markets sell event contracts \u2014 so they\u2019re also categorized and regulated differently from traditional forms of gambling. That\u2019s raised concerns about consumer protections, and legal battles over government oversight.<\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has already\u00a0thrown its support\u00a0behind company operators \u2014 and\u00a0sued several states\u00a0over their regulation efforts. Meanwhile, the industry is scrambling to assure the public\u00a0with new guardrails. Polymarket recently rewrote its rules to clearly state users cannot trade on contracts where they might possess confidential information, or could influence the outcome of an event.<\/p>\n

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Spagnuolo is being charged with violating the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act, wire fraud and money laundering. He could face years of prison time.<\/p>\n

Read more Meet the Black women on Fortune\u2019s Most Powerful Women list shaping business leadership<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The employee allegedly placed wagers on the prediction marketplace based on the most trending topics that Google shared internally beforehand. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-google"],"yoast_head":"\nProsecutors issue Google insider trading charges after an employee made more than $1.2 million on Polymarket - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=277\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prosecutors issue Google insider trading charges after an employee made more than $1.2 million on Polymarket - 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