Did He Bet Using Insider Information? Google Employee Accused of Earning $1.2 Million on Polymarket

Checked "Searches of the Year" Data in Advance
Bet $2.7 Million, Earned $1.2 Million in Profits

A Google employee has been arrested on charges of making large profits on a prediction betting platform by using internal company information. Investigations revealed that he checked search-related data in advance of public release and placed bets worth millions of dollars on predicting the results of Google's 'Searches of the Year'.

Image to aid article understanding. Photo by Reuters-Yonhap News

According to reports from the BBC and others on May 27 (local time), the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has indicted Google engineer Michele Spagnuolo, 36, on charges of violating insider trading laws.

Although Spagnuolo is an Italian citizen residing in Switzerland, he was arrested on Wednesday and appeared in federal court in New York. According to ABC News, he was released on bail after posting a $2.25 million bond.

Prosecutors believe Spagnuolo used non-public information that he could access at Google through his work to profit on the prediction betting platform 'Polymarket'. Between October and December last year, he allegedly placed $2.7 million (approximately 4 billion won) in bets related to Google, earning $1.2 million (about 1.8 billion won) in profit.

The information in question was reportedly internal data related to Google's 'Searches of the Year'. According to prosecutors, he reviewed the data before it was made public and participated in a bet to predict who would be the most searched person on Google in 2025.

Court documents also stated that Spagnuolo traded on Polymarket under the account name 'Alpharaccoon'. He reportedly bet that Bianca Censori and U.S. President Donald Trump would not be number one, and wagered on the singer D4vd—considered at the time to have little chance—being ranked first.

Prosecutors believe that at the time of the bet, Spagnuolo already knew that D4vd was the most searched person on Google. He was able to access the relevant information through internal systems before Google made the search data public.

Google stated, "We are cooperating with law enforcement investigations," and announced that the employee has been placed on leave. The company further explained, "The material in question was marketing data accessible through tools available to all employees, but using confidential information for betting is a serious violation of company policy."

Polymarket also said it is cooperating with the investigation. A Polymarket spokesperson stated, "Blockchain transactions are transparent and traceable, and bad actors leave a trail."

Polymarket is a platform where users can predict and bet on the outcomes of political, economic, and social issues using cryptocurrency. The FBI reportedly tracked multiple accounts using cryptocurrency, but connected Spagnuolo and related accounts by identifying an account opened with Italian identification.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.