A Google Engineer Was Charged With Insider Trading Over a Bet Tied to D4vd
Did you know that turning your knowledge of the internet into a bet can result in federal fraud charges? A Google software engineer just learned the hard way that it can, in fact, happen. The engineer has landed in hot legal water after allegedly using confidential data from his job to place a massive bet involving D4vd, the singer accused of murdering a teenage girl. Here is exactly what happened.
A Google engineer stands accused of insider trading over Polymarket bets
Michele Spagnuolo, a software engineer, had been working for Google since 2014 when he allegedly decided to capitalize on insider information about search trends. According to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen living in Switzerland, placed enormous bets on Polymarket, many of them tied to search trends he could access through his job.
Spagnuolo is accused of placing over $2 million in bets and profiting more than $1 million from a series of data-driven guesses. While he placed multiple wagers that have come under fire, much of the focus is on one bet in particular. According to court filings, the engineer correctly predicted that D4vd would be Google’s most-searched person of the year. He placed that wager, then considered a massive long shot, on November 27. He also placed 22 other bets in the “Year in Search” market, all because he had access to internal data revealing the year-end results. Spagnuolo used that access to profit, which is what led to the insider-trading accusation.
The case is the second of its kind
Michele Spagnuolo is the second person accused of using insider information to place bets on Polymarket. An Army Special Forces sergeant was previously accused of using classified intelligence about a military operation. According to the New York Times, the sergeant was directly involved in the operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He used his information to win about $400,000 on the platform. He has pleaded not guilty.
As for Google, the search giant says it is cooperating with law enforcement and that Spagnuolo has been placed on leave. A company spokesperson noted that using confidential information for personal gain is a breach of company policy.
Polymarket is a blockchain-based prediction market. Users can buy and sell shares in the outcomes of real-world events. Elections, pop culture moments, and sports bets are all available on the platform. Prices, set by trading, reflect the crowd’s estimated probability that an event will happen. Correct predictions pay out, settling in cryptocurrency.
