Google worker charged with tapping internal data to make $1.2m on bets
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A Google employee has been arrested for allegedly using his access to company information to successfully place lucrative bets on the prediction platform Polymarket.
Key facts
Spagnuolo allegedly used information he had early access to through his work at Google, which is based in the US, to make bets that saw him rack up $1.2m (£894,330) in winnings
He started using Polymarket in 2024, and between October and December of last year, the US Attorney's office said Spagnuolo placed $2.7m in bets related to Google
By using internal information, he could make more than $1m in profits from those bets, it said
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said it had charged Michele Spagnuolo, a Google engineer, with breaking insider trading laws because of several bets he placed
Summary
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said it had charged Michele Spagnuolo, a Google engineer, with breaking insider trading laws because of several bets he placed through the platform. Although Spagnuolo is an Italian citizen who lives in Switzerland, he was arrested on Wednesday and brought before a federal judge in New York. Spagnuolo allegedly used information he had early access to through his work at Google, which is based in the US, to make bets that saw him rack up $1.2m (£894,330) in winnings. A spokeswoman for Google said the company was "working with law enforcement on their investigation" and that the employee had been placed on leave.