A Google software engineer is facing federal charges for allegedly using confidential company information to make over $1.2 million on the prediction market platform Polymarket. Michele Spagnuolo is accused of insider trading after betting on one of last year’s most popular Internet searches.
Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York allege that Spagnuolo used nonpublic information about Google Search traffic to bet on who would be the most-searched people of 2025. According to the complaint, the engineer risked over $2.7 million on wagers related to Google's 2025 Year in Search campaign.
This marks the second known case of the federal government filing criminal charges against someone who allegedly used insider information to make a large profit on a prediction market site. The complaint comes just over a month after another insider trading case on Polymarket.