US prosecutors indict Google engineer for $1.2M Polymarket insider trading

U.S. prosecutors have arrested and indicted a Google security engineer, Michele Spagnuolo, on charges of insider trading on the prediction market Polymarket, CoinDesk reported. Spagnuolo allegedly used a non-public internal Google tool to access a list of the most-searched individuals of 2025 before placing bets based on that information. Prosecutors claim he illegally used data unavailable to the public to secure over $1.2 million in illicit profits. He is also accused of attempting to conceal the origin of the funds to launder the proceeds, ultimately transferring the money to a payment processing account in Italy. This marks the second arrest by U.S. prosecutors related to insider trading on prediction markets, following the case of a U.S. soldier who was arrested for betting on a Venezuelan presidential operation.