In a significant legal development, a Google employee has been charged with fraud after allegedly profiting $1.2 million from betting on Polymarket using insider knowledge of Google Search trends. According to a report from ABC News, federal prosecutors have accused Michele Spagnuolo of accessing confidential Google data to gain an unfair advantage in these wagers. Spagnuolo was apprehended in New York on Wednesday and subsequently released on a $2.25 million bond. The charges against him include commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Using the alias AlphaRacoon, Spagnuolo’s successful bets on Polymarket about search trends drew attention from media outlets such as Forbes, as well as social media users last December. Notably, he predicted that a singer known as D4vd would be the most searched person on Google in 2025, despite the prediction being seen as highly improbable according to Polymarket’s metrics.
In addition, Spagnuolo is said to have placed bets against Pope Leo XIV and Kendrick Lamar appearing on Google’s “Year in Search 2025” lists. These lists, challenging to forecast due to Google’s unique ranking criteria, are based on terms that see the greatest surge in traffic rather than sheer search volume within a specific timeframe. Google’s method focuses on identifying trends unique to the year by measuring spikes in interest.
The complaint further alleges that after securing his winnings, Spagnuolo took intentional measures to disguise the illicit origins of his profits. This case follows another involving a US Army soldier, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who was charged with fraud last month for an alleged $400,000 bet on Polymarket concerning the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Polymarket, in a statement on social media platform X, described itself as a leader in enforcement. The company highlighted how its “market integrity infrastructure” detected Spagnuolo’s suspicious activities, emphasizing the transparency and traceability of blockchain trading, which leaves a trail for bad actors.
Responding to the situation, Google spokesperson Jaclyn Vazquez stated to The Verge that the company is cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation. She acknowledged that the employee accessed internal marketing tools available to all staff but stressed that using such confidential information for betting constitutes a severe breach of company policies. Consequently, the employee has been placed on leave pending further action.
