Google Engineer Charged Over $2.75 Million in Alleged Polymarket Insider Trading Bets
A Google engineer, Michele Spagnuolo, was charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering for allegedly using confidential internal Google data to bet on Polymarket prediction markets. Spagnuolo, who operated under the alias “AlphaRaccoon,” reportedly wagered around $2.75 million on contracts related to Google from October to December 2023, profiting about $1.2 million. The Department of Justice claims he accessed nonpublic “Year in Search” data via a Google tool marked as confidential. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also filed a civil case seeking penalties and trading bans against him. This is the second federal case involving insider trading on prediction markets. In response to such cases, prediction market platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi have tightened rules to prevent insider trading, and some states have restricted public employees from trading based on nonpublic information. The incidents have prompted debates and regulatory actions at both state and federal levels regarding oversight of prediction markets.
