When you work inside one of the world’s largest tech companies, you have access to information most people can only dream about. Michele Spagnuolo, a Google software engineer and Italian citizen, apparently decided that access was too good to pass up—and the consequences have been severe.
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors unsealed criminal charges against Spagnuolo after he allegedly used confidential Google search data to place bets on Polymarket, a prediction platform, netting himself $1.2 million in the process. Here’s where it gets wild: the bets centered on whether singer D4vd would rank in Google’s Top 5 Most Searched People of 2025, and whether D4vd would claim the number one spot overall. Spagnuolo used an account called“AlphaRaccoon”to place these wagers on markets that had assigned the latter outcome a near-zero probability. But he knew something others didn’t. He had access to Google’s internal Year in Search data showing that D4vd had actually replaced Kendrick Lamar as the most-searched person for 2025—information that wasn’t public yet.
The math was simple but damning: Spagnuolo wagered less than $1,000 based on that insider knowledge and walked away with $1.2 million. What comes next is where the case gets even more serious. Prosecutors say he“took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information by attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his unlawful proceeds.”That’s not just insider trading territory—that’s money laundering territory.
Spagnuolo was arrested and charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. He appeared before a federal magistrate on Wednesday without entering a plea and was released on a $2.25 million bond. For context, D4vd—the person whose search spike made this whole scheme possible—remains incarcerated on charges related to the alleged murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez in April 2025. D4vd has pleaded not guilty.
What makes this case particularly striking isn’t just the dollar amount or the insider information angle—it’s the sheer audacity of it. This wasn’t some penny-stock manipulation or obscure corporate secret. Spagnuolo essentially bet the farm on a prediction market using data he knew would eventually become public, just with a crucial timing advantage. The bet itself wasn’t illegal. Using confidential company data to place it? That’s where federal prosecutors draw the line. And they’re prepared to make an example of him.
About the Author
Ava Hart
Ava Hart is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
