US Charges Google Employee Over Insider Trading Bets on Polymarket

The Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission allege that Michele Spagnuolo earned $1.2 million on Polymarket after accessing non-public information through his work at Google.

A Google employee has been charged by US authorities for allegedly using company information to place bets on Polymarket and generate $1.2 million in profit.

The Justice Department said on Wednesday that charges were unsealed against Michele Spagnuolo, accusing the Google software engineer of accessing unreleased internal company information and placing 25 bets worth $2.7 million on markets tied to the most searched individuals on Google in 2025.

Prosecutors said Michele Spagnuolo controlled the Polymarket account “AlphaRaccoon,” which generated $1.2 million in profit from “outcomes that the market treated as unlikely” after information on Google’s most searched individuals was published in December.

A parallel complaint was filed against Michele Spagnuolo by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday, containing similar allegations related to insider trading.

Prediction markets are facing increasing scrutiny over insider trading, with a probe launched by Congress on Friday into Polymarket and Kalshi, questioning how incidents of insider trading on the platforms have been handled amid concerns that government officials are using insider knowledge to place bets.

Manhattan US District Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement that the charges “reinforce a decades-old message: Corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to turn a profit in our markets.”

AlphaRaccoon Account Reportedly Changed Its Name

According to the court documents, discussions began across Discord and X communities in December about the possibility that AlphaRaccoon was a Google insider. Shortly afterward, the username was allegedly changed to a wallet address.

Prosecutors alleged that funds from the AlphaRaccoon account were transferred to a decentralized crypto swapping service and an unnamed transfer platform offering privacy protection for blockchain transactions.

Michele Spagnuolo was charged by the Justice Department with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, and a maximum prison sentence of 50 years could be faced if convicted.

In its complaint, restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, and trading and registration bans are being sought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

CFTC director of enforcement, David Miller, said in a statement that “the division is a cop on the beat in policing the illegal use of inside information in the prediction markets and other markets within the CFTC’s jurisdiction.”

“We will continue to take action to protect markets from insider trading and other forms of fraud, abuse and manipulation,” Miller added.

It came after a US soldier was charged by the Justice Department in April for allegedly using classified information to place bets on the US capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.