A Google employee allegedly used inside information to win $1.2 million on Polymarket

Federal prosecutors charged Google employee Michele Spagnuolo with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering over alleged Polymarket bets tied to 2025 Search trends. Prosecutors say he used confidential internal data to know wager outcomes before the public, earning about $1.2 million, and was released on a $2.25 million bond.

The case highlights growing legal and compliance risks as prediction markets intersect with corporate data access. If prosecutors succeed, it could push tech companies and trading platforms to tighten controls around insider information and event-based wagering.

Federal prosecutors charged a Google employee with fraud after he allegedly made $1.2 million on Polymarket bets related to Search-related trends in 2025, as reported earlier by ABC News. In their now-unsealed complaint, prosecutors allege that Michele Spagnuolo "knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google's confidential, commercially valuable internal data." Spagnuolo was arrested in New York on Wednesday but released on a $2.25 million bond, ABC News reports. He is charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Spagnuolo made bets on Polymarket under the username AlphaRa … Read the full story at The Verge.