Google engineer uses confidential data for gambling.

The data that this engineer used for gambling was top secret and had never been released by Google. Photo: BeInCrypto .

The U.S. Department of Justice recently indicted a Google software engineer for using internal information to illegally profit $1.2 million on Polymarket, the world's largest online betting platform that allows users to bet on the outcomes of events using cryptocurrency.

Michele Spagnuolo, 36, an Italian citizen residing in Switzerland, was arrested on charges of commodity fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has also filed a separate civil lawsuit against the Google employee.

According to the indictment from the prosecution, Spagnuolo used an anonymous account under the name "AlphaRaccoon" to conduct transactions. He accessed previously unreleased internal Google search trend data, which is highly valuable and strictly confidential.

"Unlike other participants in the transaction, Spagnuolo knew the outcome of the bets before the public had the information," the prosecution stated in the indictment.

The Polymarket platform reported that the AlphaRaccoon account earned $1.15 million in just 24 hours by predicting Google search results. Photo: Polymarket.

Specifically, Spagnuolo placed a total of 25 different bets with a total transaction value of $2.7 million . The bets mainly revolved around who would be the most searched person on Google in 2025.

He spent nearly $1 million betting that Bianca Censori (wife of rapper Kanye West) wouldn't top the search rankings. Spagnuolo also bet $600,000 on Pope Leo XIV. In addition, he placed a large bet on rapper D4vd at a time when the market considered his chances of winning almost zero. After winning the bet and withdrawing the money to his e-wallet, Spagnuolo immediately deleted his anonymous account to erase any trace.

A Google representative confirmed that the company has been cooperating closely with federal investigators. The engineer has now been suspended from his position at the corporation.

"This employee accessed marketing materials through a shared tool for all employees, but using that confidential information to gamble is a serious breach of company policy," said Jaclyn Vazquez, a Google spokesperson.

On Polymarket's part, Chief Legal Officer Olivia Chalos stated that this is the first prediction platform to partner with authorities to bring criminal charges regarding insider trading in the US. She explained that because it runs on blockchain technology and uses cryptocurrency, all transactions are "transparent, traceable, and bad actors always leave a trail."

This arrest comes amid a booming prediction market in the US. Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket allow users to bet on a wide range of areas, from politics and geopolitical events to the global economy.

Currently, state and federal governments are in legal conflict over how to regulate this type of market. The Trump administration wants federal agencies to have exclusive control over the market in the form of "futures contracts."

Conversely, some states, such as Minnesota, consider this illegal gambling and have issued bans.

Source: https://znews.vn/ky-su-bi-bat-vi-dung-du-lieu-mat-cua-google-di-ca-do-online-post1654999.html