Federal prosecutors charged Google employee Michele Spagnuolo with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering after he allegedly used internal search trend data to place $1.2 million in Polymarket bets under the username AlphaRacoon. Spagnuolo was arrested in New York and released on a $2.25 million bond. The case centers on accurate predictions for Google’s 2025 Year in Search rankings that markets had priced near zero.