An engineer with tech giant Google LLC is being charged with insider trading that allegedly took place in event contracts traded on a prediction market, rather than the company’s securities.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a complaint in the U.S. district court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) against Michele Spagnuolo — an Italian employee of Google who lives in Switzerland — alleging that he traded in contracts listed on Polymarket.com that took bets on who would appear on Google’s lists of most-searched people for 2025, based on his inside knowledge of the contents of those lists.
In a parallel criminal action, Spagnuolo was also charged with wire fraud, commodities fraud and money laundering by the U.S. attorney for the SDNY, in connection with his alleged trading on Polymarket.
In its complaint, U.S. authorities alleged that Spagnuolo used the alias “AlphaRaccoon” to engage in insider trading that generated over US$1.2 million in illicit profits.
The CFTC is seeking restitution, disgorgement, monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction.
The allegations have not been proven, and he is presumed to be innocent of the criminal charges.