Google Engineer Accused of Turning Secret Search Data Into a $1.2M Polymarket Profit

AlphaRaccoon’s username was faraway from the Polymarket account after customers on Discord and X speculated that the dealer could have been a Google insider.

US prosecutors have charged Google software program engineer Michele Spagnuolo, additionally recognized on-line as ‘AlphaRaccoon,’ with allegedly utilizing confidential inner Google search knowledge to revenue roughly $1.2 million by means of bets positioned on prediction market platform Polymarket.

Based on a felony grievance unsealed within the Southern District of New York, Spagnuolo allegedly accessed nonpublic ‘Yr in Search 2025’ knowledge from Google’s inner methods and used that info to commerce on Google-related markets on Polymarket earlier than the outcomes grew to become public.

Polymarket Insider Buying and selling Case

Prosecutors charged him with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and cash laundering, whereas the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) filed a parallel civil grievance accusing him of insider buying and selling violations beneath the Commodity Trade Act. The submitting states that Google retains its “Yr in Search” rankings strictly confidential as a result of the annual marketing campaign is commercially useful and designed round a coordinated public reveal supposed to generate media consideration, person engagement, and promoting demand.

Investigators mentioned Spagnuolo had entry to a Google inner software program instrument containing confidential development knowledge and that the instrument itself displayed a “Google Confidential” warning banner. Authorities allege that between October and December 2025, Spagnuolo used the AlphaRaccoon Polymarket account to put bets on at the very least 23 Google-related prediction markets, together with contracts tied to the “#1 Searched Particular person on Google this 12 months” and “High 5 Most Searched Individuals on Google 2025.”

The grievance says that after reviewing Google’s inner knowledge on October 15, 2025, Spagnuolo positioned trades the next day, backing Kendrick Lamar to turn out to be the highest searched individual of the 12 months whereas concurrently betting towards Pope Leo XIV attaining the identical consequence. Prosecutors mentioned he continued putting trades over the next weeks utilizing information unavailable to the general public.

On November 27, 2025, investigators allege that Spagnuolo once more accessed confidential Google search rankings and discovered that musician d4vd had overtaken Kendrick Lamar as the highest trending individual for the 12 months. Roughly three hours later, the AlphaRaccoon account allegedly positioned bets favoring d4vd regardless of the market assigning nearly no likelihood to that end result on the time.

The submitting states that the account risked roughly $2.75 million throughout Google Yr in Search-related markets between October 15 and December 4, 2025. After Google publicly launched its Yr in Search outcomes on December 4, prosecutors mentioned the AlphaRaccoon account generated roughly $1.2 million in income.

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Investigators additional allege that Spagnuolo tried to hide the origin of the proceeds by transferring crypto by means of a number of wallets, decentralized swapping companies, and a privacy-focused switch service.

Kalshi’s Crackdown on Insider Buying and selling Instances

The allegations towards Spagnuolo come as prediction markets face rising scrutiny over insider-style buying and selling exercise. In April, rival platform Kalshi banned three US political candidates after discovering they’d positioned bets tied to their very own election races. These included Minnesota State Senator Matt Klein, Texas congressional candidate Ezekiel Enriquez, and Virginia Senate candidate Mark Moran.

Kalshi mentioned the trades violated trade guidelines that prohibit folks with direct affect over an occasion from buying and selling associated contracts. The platform issued fines and five-year bans.