A Google employee allegedly used inside information to win $1.2 million on Polymarket | The Verge
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A Google employee allegedly used inside information to win $1.2 million on Polymarket
Prosecutors say that Michele Spagnuolo used Google’s internal info to place bets on the ‘Year in Search 2025’ results.
Prosecutors say that Michele Spagnuolo used Google’s internal info to place bets on the ‘Year in Search 2025’ results.
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Federal prosecutors charged a Google employee with fraud after he allegedly made
Spagnuolo made bets on Polymarket under the username Alpha Racoon, with his successful search-related wagers catching the attention of outlets like Forbes and users on social media last December. In one instance, Spagnuolo correctly guessed that a singer named D4vd would “be the #1 searched person on Google” in 2025, despite the “near-zero probability” assigned by Polymarket, according to the complaint.
Fake or real, the “inside traders” on Polymarket are great engagement bait
Oh, you think the government will regulate Kalshi and Polymarket? Wanna bet?
At the same time, Spagnuolo allegedly bet that Pope Leo XIV and Kendrick Lamar would not appear on Google’s “Year in Search 2025” lists, which are difficult to predict because of how they’re calculated. Google says it ranked last year’s terms based on which ones saw the “highest increase in traffic” — not the highest number of searches — between January 1st, 2025 and November 25th, 2025. “By measuring the spike in interest rather than the total number of searches, we can identify the trends that were unique to 2025.”
“Once he won, Spagnuolo then took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information by attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his unlawful proceeds,” the complaint says. Last month, federal prosecutors charged US Army soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke with fraud for allegedly making a $400,000 Polymarket bet on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Several states have taken steps to regulate prediction market platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi due to concerns about insider trading, but the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and President Donald Trump have pushed back on these decisions. The CFTC claims it has the “exclusive” authority over prediction markets.
In a statement on X, Polymarket called itself “the enforcement leader,” saying its “market integrity infrastructure” flagged Spagnuolo’s activity. “Blockchain trading is transparent, traceable, and bad actors leave footprints,” the company writes, without noting whether the people putting their money down know that.
”We’re working with law enforcement on their investigation,” Google spokesperson Jaclyn Vazquez says in a statement to The Verge. “The 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. We’ve placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action.”
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