A Google worker has been charged after allegedly using insider information about the tech giant’s search engine to win $1.2m (£900,000) betting on the US prediction market Polymarket.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York said Michele Spagnuolo, an Italian software engineer living in Switzerland, used confidential company information to place bets on who would be the most searched-for person on Google in 2025.
This included placing a bet that American singer D4vd would be the “#1 searched person on Google” last year at a time when his odds were “assigned a near-zero probability”, according to FBI investigators.
Mr Spagnuolo also allegedly made a series of bets against other celebrities and public figures being the most searched person.
He placed wagers against Bianca Censori – the wife of rapper Kanye West – and a bet against Pope Leo being the most searched.
US officials said the Google engineer accessed confidential search data from the internet giant on November 27, before placing a bet on D4vd three hours later under the account name “AlphaRaccoon”.
The Google employee wagered a total of $2.7m across a series of trades on the annual ranking.
Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said: “Today’s charges reinforce a decades-old message: corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to turn a profit in our markets.
“Insider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted.”
Mr Spagnuolo has been released on a $2.2m bail. A Google spokesman said it was “working with law enforcement on their investigation”.
A spokesman for Polymarket said that it was the “only prediction platform to date whose cooperation has led to insider trading charges”.
They added: “We are committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets as well as enforcing our rules and working with our regulators and law enforcement.”
Prediction markets allow punters to trade on future events using technology based on cryptocurrencies.
These loosely regulated markets have surged in popularity with gamblers using them to bet on everything from the outcome of the US presidential election to where the next strikes will land in the Iran war.
But the apps have also prompted claims that gamblers with confidential information are using the sites to place winning bets, potentially breaking US laws which ban trading on insider information.
In April, a US Army soldier was charged with allegedly making $400,000 while trading using classified information about the upcoming raid to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
Mr Spagnuolo was accused by US authorities of commodities law breaches, wire fraud and money laundering, charges which carry up to 20 years in prison. Mr Spagnuolo could not be reached for comment.
