A Google information security engineer has been charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering after allegedly using confidential company data to place winning bets on Polymarket. The scheme reportedly netted him more than $1.2 million in profits over just three months.
Michele Spagnuolo was charged on May 27 by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. He was arrested in New York and subsequently released on a $2.25 million bond.
The scheme: betting on what people Google
Spagnuolo, as a Google security engineer, had access to confidential search trend data, the kind of information that feeds into Google’s annual “Year in Search” report revealing the most-searched people, topics, and events of the year.
Polymarket is a blockchain-based prediction market where users wager real money on the outcomes of future events. Markets range from presidential elections to pop culture outcomes, and in this case, which individuals would top Google’s search rankings.
