Google Security Engineer Michele Spagnolo was arrested and charged with alleged insider trading by placing bets on Polymarket about what Google users searched on the internet, according to U.S. officials on Wednesday.



According to the complaint, unsealed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Spagnolo used "material nonpublic information" to place bets on who would be among the most wanted people by Google in 2025, after Polymarket opened these markets last fall.

Spagnolo allegedly used Google's internal tool to track the most wanted people and transferred about $3.8 million $USDC to the Polymarket address, the complaint states, signed by FBI Special Agent Brandon Ratz.

An account with the username "AlphaRaccoon" bet that D4vd (a rapper recently accused of murdering a 14-year-old girl) would be one of the most wanted people at the end of November. Spagnolo is believed to have gained access to Google's internal tool, which showed D4vd gaining popularity, several hours before the AlphaRaccoon account placed the bet.

The AlphaRaccoon user transferred $5 million USDC.e from their Polymarket account to a wallet, then moved the funds through an exchange service and a privacy tool, the complaint says. Some of the funds were ultimately transferred to an account in Italy, opened by a person using Michele Spagnolo’s ID.

"Unlike the counterparties in his trades, Spagnolo knew the outcome of these bets before the broader trading public, as he had access to confidential, commercially valuable internal Google data," the complaint states. "Spagnolo personally profited by more than approximately $1,200,000 from his trades based on nonpublic information. After obtaining the winnings, Spagnolo took deliberate steps to conceal his illegal use of nonpublic information, attempting to hide the source and owner of his illicit gains."

Spagnolo is charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, according to the complaint.

The charges on Wednesday marked the second major arrest of a person allegedly trading on Polymarket using insider information, after the earlier arrest of a U.S. Army soldier who was allegedly betting on a raid against Nicolás Maduro, in which he participated himself.
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