A Google engineer, Michele Spagnuolo, was arrested in New York and charged with insider trading violations tied to Polymarket bets. Prosecutors said he used early access to information obtained through his Google work to place trades on the prediction platform, resulting in about $1.2 million in winnings. Google said the employee was placed on leave and that the company was working with law enforcement. The alleged information involved marketing material accessed through a tool available to all employees, but used in a way that breached company policies. Polymarket said it worked with authorities and noted that blockchain trading is transparent and traceable. Investigators linked multiple accounts using identification details and other evidence, and Spagnuolo was released on a $2.25 million bond.
"The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said it had charged Michele Spagnuolo, a Google engineer, with breaking insider trading laws because of several bets he placed through the platform. Although Spagnuolo is an Italian citizen who lives in Switzerland, he was arrested on Wednesday and brought before a federal judge in New York. Spagnuolo allegedly used information he had early access to through his work at Google, which is based in the US, to make bets that saw him rack up $1.2m (894,330) in winnings."
"A spokeswoman for Google said the company was "working with law enforcement on their investigation" and that the employee had been placed on leave. The internal information that was allegedly used was marketing material accessed "using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies," she added. A spokesman for Polymarket said the platform "worked closely" with authorities on the investigation."
"Blockchain trading is transparent, traceable, and bad actors leave footprints," the spokesman added. Blockchain is a sort of digital record applied to cryptocurrency, which is the only currency Polymarket accepts. The US Attorney's office worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) on Spagnuolo's arrest. He has been released on a $2.25m bond, according to ABC News."
"Although Spagnuolo allegedly traded under the account name AlphaRaccoon on Polymarket and his bets were made with cryptocurrency from several accounts, the FBI said it linked his accounts by finding one he had opened with an Italian identification card. Spagnuolo did not respond to an email seeking comment. According to online profiles, he worked for Google for more than 12 years as an engineer focused on in"
Read at www.bbc.com
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