This article was published on May 28, 2026 Michele Spagnuolo allegedly traded under the handle ‘AlphaRaccoon’, netting $1.2m on Google’s Year-in-Search outcomes. It is the second federal criminal case tied to Polymarket. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have charged Michele Spagnuolo, a 36-year-old Google information-security engineer based in Switzerland, with using internal Google search-trend data to bet $2.7m on Polymarket and profit $1.2m on the prediction-market platform’s 2025 Google Year-in-Search contracts. The case, announced on Tuesday, is the second federal criminal prosecution connected to trading on Polymarket and the first in which the misappropriated information comes from inside a major Silicon Valley platform. The mechanics are unusually specific. Polymarket ran a market in late 2025 on who would top Google’s Year-in-Search list, the company’s annual recap of the most-searched terms and people. Spagnuolo, prosecutors allege, used an internal Google tool to access non-public search-trend data and then placed 25 separate bets on the market under an account named “AlphaRaccoon.” He bet nearly $1m that Kanye West’s wife Bianca Censori would not
May 27, 2026 → May 28, 2026
A Google software engineer has been accused of using inside information to make more than $1 million on a prediction market. The charges were announced Wednesday in an unsealed criminal complaint in New York that alleges Michele Spagnuolo…
Read original at Gizmodo →5 updates from 5 sources over 1 day.
A Google software engineer has been accused of using inside information to make more than $1 million on a prediction market. The charges were announced Wednesday in an unsealed criminal complaint in New York that…
Read original at Gizmodo →Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have an insider-trading problem. And now it seems the U.S. Department of Justice is doing something about this illegal activity. Last month, the DOJ charged a U.S. Army…
Read original at Mashable →US DoJ alleges software engineer Michele Spagnuolo, 36, earned $1.2m betting on Google’s most-searched list Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email The US justice department has charged a Google software…
Read original at The Guardian →This article was published on May 28, 2026 Michele Spagnuolo allegedly traded under the handle ‘AlphaRaccoon’, netting $1.2m on Google’s Year-in-Search outcomes. It is the second federal criminal case tied to…
Read original at The Next Web →Federal prosecutors in New York charged a Google software engineer with making roughly $1.2 million in profits from bets on the prediction market platform Polymarket by using confidential insider information he learned…
Read original at CNN →What this story stands on. Tier 0 is a primary record or the subject's own words; higher tiers must be attributed, never stated as bare fact.
A Google software engineer has been accused of using inside information to make more than $1 million on a prediction market. The charges were announced Wednesday in an unsealed criminal complaint in New York that alleges Michele Spagnuolo…
View source →Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have an insider-trading problem. And now it seems the U.S. Department of Justice is doing something about this illegal activity. Last month, the DOJ charged a U.S. Army soldier with profiting…
View source →US DoJ alleges software engineer Michele Spagnuolo, 36, earned $1.2m betting on Google’s most-searched list Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email The US justice department has charged a Google software engineer with using…
View source →This article was published on May 28, 2026 Michele Spagnuolo allegedly traded under the handle ‘AlphaRaccoon’, netting $1.2m on Google’s Year-in-Search outcomes. It is the second federal criminal case tied to Polymarket. Federal…
View source →Federal prosecutors in New York charged a Google software engineer with making roughly $1.2 million in profits from bets on the prediction market platform Polymarket by using confidential insider information he learned about the most…
View source →Tier key: T0 = Primary source · T1 = Wire · T2 = Outlet report · T3 = Commentary
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