How a Google techie made $1.2 million by using 2025's top search trends on accused murderer D4vd

A Google employee has been charged with fraud and money laundering for using insider information to make $1.2 million in bets on Polymarket.A Google employee made $1.2 million by using internal data to place bets on Polymarket(AI generated image)A Google employee in the US has been charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering for using inside information from the tech giant to make $1.2 million (around ₹11.49 crore) worth of bets on Polymarket. The 36 year old employee, Michele Spagnuolo worked as a staff information security engineer at Google and allegedly made the trades between October and December last year. Why was Google employee arrested? Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen by birth, and was based out of the Google's offices in Zurich, Switzerland. He was arrested in New York on Wednesday morning and appeared before a magistrate judge and was later released ona $2.25 million bond, ABC News reported. The US authorities say that Spagnuolo gained access to Google's internal information via a software used inside the company and later created an account on Polymarket under the alias “AlphaRaccoon”. to place bets on company related developments. His most profitable bet perhaps was when he made $1.2 million betting on who Google’s most-searched person of 2025 would be, correctly predicting it would be D4vd as the singer-songwriter’s name surged across the internet following his alleged connection to a widely discussed criminal case where he was later charged.“Michele Spagnuolo allegedly abused his elevated access to confidential trends to place bets with nonpublic information and receive more than one million dollars in unlawful profits,” said FBI Assistant Director James C. Barnacle Jr. said in the complaint“SPAGNUOLO used the AlphaRaccoon account to risk approximately $2,754,092 on markets related to Google’s internal information. Soon after Google’s information was publicly announced, and the markets resolved, SPAGNUOLO’s AlphaRaccoon account profited approximately $1.2 million based on his use of inside information in connection with bets placed on Polymarket.” the complaint notesGoogle responds to controversy: A Google spokesperson while speaking to WIRED explained that the company is cooperating with the investigation and the employee has been placed on leave as it takes appropriate action on him."We’re working with law enforcement on their investigation. The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies. We’ve placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action,” the spokesperson saidMore problems for Spagnuolo: Apart from the criminal charges, CNBC reports that Spagnuolo is also facing a civil case from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on charges of insider trading. The complaint alleges that he predicted the outcome of several “Year in Search” reports in the prediction markets, including “Will Zohran Mamdani rank in the Top 5 most searched” and “Will Squid Game be the #1 searched TV show.” “Spagnuolo misappropriated the material Confidential Information by knowingly or recklessly using it to trade the 2025 Year in Search List Contracts in breach of his duties of trust and confidentiality,” the complaint allegesNotably, this is the second much publicised case of using classified information to place bets on prediction market. In April this year, Army Special Forces master sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke was arrested for using classified information to make over 400,0000 on Polymarket on US operation on capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.About the AuthorAman GuptaAman Gupta is a Digital Content Producer at LiveMint with over 3.5 years of experience covering the technology landscape. He specializes in artificial intelligence and consumer technology, reporting on everything from the ethical debates around AI models to shifts in the smartphone market.