These days, you can bet on virtually everything. Apps like Polymarket and Kalshi make it super easy to bet on anything and everything. But when you work for Google, betting on what people are searching for on Google is not a good idea. Michele Spagnuolo is finding that out the hard way.
Spagnuolo, a Google information security engineer, had access to company data tracking user searches. Making it easy to place bets. In the complaint, Spagnuolo “misappropriated confidential and valuable nonpublic information from his employer and used that information to place a series of Google-related bets on Polymarket, a prediction market platform.”
They are now charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Spagnuolo profited $1.2 million from Google’s most-searched person in 2025
Spagnuolo bet that Google’s most-searched for person in 2025 would be the singer known as D4vd. At the time, Polymarket had assigned “a near-zero probability” to D4vd to be the number one searched person on Google this year. After Google publicly announced the results on December 4, 2025, Spagnuolo’s account profited $1.2 million on these bets.
“Once he won, Spagnuolo then took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information by attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his unlawful proceeds,” the complaint said.
Spagnuolo was arrested on Wednesday in New York. He did not enter a plea but was released on a $2.25 million bond.
A Google spokesperson, responding to the charges against Spagnuolo, said, “We’re working with law enforcement on their investigation. The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies. We’ve placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action.”
This is already the second case involving Polymarket in the Southern District of New York. And it’s unlikely to be the last.
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