Google Engineer Faces Fraud Charges Over $1.2M Polymarket Insider Betting Scheme (GOOGL)

Michele Spagnuolo, a 36-year-old Google cybersecurity engineer, has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering after allegedly using internal, non-public search data to make $1.2 million in illegal profits on the Polymarket prediction platform. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan filed the criminal complaint on May 30, 2026. Prosecutors say Spagnuolo placed 25 wagers totaling about $2.7 million between October and December 2025 on which musician would top Google’s "Annual Search Person" rankings. He exploited access to proprietary search metrics—available to only a handful of employees—that showed Kendrick Lamar and d4vd leading. Both artists ultimately placed in the top five, generating the illicit gains. Google (GOOGL) suspended Spagnuolo, who joined in 2014 when Alphabet shares traded below $30 and had since risen above $380, and is cooperating with authorities. Despite a total compensation package that could approach $1.24 million, including significant stock awards, Spagnuolo attempted to conceal the funds using cryptocurrency mixers. FBI investigators traced him through an early, non-anonymized withdrawal linked to his Italian government-issued identification.