Overview
- Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York allege Michele Spagnuolo used confidential Google marketing data to place timed bets on Polymarket that yielded about $1.2 million in profits.
- He faces charges of commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering and has been released after posting roughly $2.2–2.25 million in bond with travel restrictions.
- Google suspended Spagnuolo and says he accessed internal, confidentiality-marked marketing material using an employee tool and that using that information to bet violates company policy.
- Investigators traced the wagers through blockchain transactions, swapping services and payment processors that reportedly tied the anonymous Polymarket account to identification used to open a linked account.
- The case is at least the second high-profile U.S. prosecution this year alleging misuse of privileged information for prediction-market bets, a development that raises questions about platform controls, corporate data safeguards and enforcement of fraud laws.