Google Engineer Charged Over Trading on Polymarket Using Nonpublic Search Ranking Information, Making About $1.2 Million
On May 27, 2026, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it had filed a complaint in the Southern District of New York against Michele Spagnuolo, a Switzerland resident and Google software engineer, accusing him of insider trading using nonpublic information about Google's 2025 year-end search rankings.
The CFTC said that from October to December 2025, Spagnuolo used an account named AlphaRaccoon to trade at least 23 event contracts on the prediction market Polymarket, making about $1.2 million with a near-perfect hit rate. The CFTC is seeking restitution, disgorgement, civil penalties and trading bans. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed a parallel criminal complaint the same day.
CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig and Enforcement Director David I. Miller commented on the case. The CFTC notes the matter is at the allegation stage.
Source: U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于美国华盛顿的美国商品期货交易委员会总部入口（资料照片）。Dclemens1971 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons；联邦固定图库标准图。 / Photo: Entrance of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C. (file photo). Photo by Dclemens1971, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; federal fixed-library image.
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