A Google engineer has been accused of misappropriating confidential company information to place Google-related trades on Polymarket, allegedly profiting about $1.2 million.
U.S. prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Michele Spagnuolo, a software engineer at Google, charging him with fraud and money laundering, according to a filing unsealed Wednesday.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also filed a parallel civil complaint against Spagnuolo, alleging insider trading in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act.
Between October and December 2025, Spagnuolo allegedly used an account known as "AlphaRaccoon" to place trades on Polymarket. According to the filings, he participated in at least 23 contracts tied to the platform's the "2025 Year in Search List," including markets such as "#1 Searched Person on Google this year" and "Top 5 Most Searched People on Google 2025."
The complaints alleged that Spagnuolo earned approximately $1.2 million in profits from Polymarket trades based on his access to inside information.
