A Google security engineer, Michele Spagnuolo, was arrested in New York and charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. He worked at Google since 2014 and was based in Zurich. The complaint alleges he placed trades on Polymarket from around October 2025 to December 2025 using confidential internal Google information. One alleged trade involved predicting Google’s most-searched person of 2025, resulting in about $1.2 million in profit and correctly identifying D4vd before the public. The FBI alleges he knew outcomes earlier than other market participants because he accessed commercially valuable internal data. This is described as the second known U.S. arrest tied to illicit prediction-market activity, with prior related charges brought in the Southern District of New York.
"Spagnuolo is charged with one count each of commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. He has worked at Google since 2014 and was based out of the company's Zurich, Switzerland offices. According to the complaint, Spagnuolo placed trades on Polymarket from around October 2025 to December 2025 using internal Google data. In one instance, he netted $1.2 million trading on who Google's most-searched person of the year would be in 2025, correctly predicting that the winner would be D4vd, a once obscure singer who became the subject of intense public scrutiny after he was suspected of murder."
""Unlike the counterparties to his trades, Spagnuolo knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google's confidential, commercially valuable internal data," FBI agent Brandon Racz wrote in the complaint. The complaint alleges that the insider access allowed him to profit from prediction-market outcomes ahead of public release, creating an advantage over other participants who did not have the same information."
"This is the second known arrest in the United States for illicit activity on prediction markets. In April, a US Army special forces officer was arrested for allegedly placing bets on markets related to the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Both cases have been brought by the Southern District of New York. OpenAI fired an employee earlier this year for using insider information to make trades on a prediction platform, but this is the first time that a tech worker has been arrested for their alleged activity."
"Polymarket has come under fire from lawmakers for its reputation as a hub of illegal activity. Last week, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman James Comer launched an investigation into insider trading on prediction markets platforms a"
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