Google Engineer Charged With Using Nonpublic Data for Prediction Market Bets
A software engineer at Google was charged last week with wire fraud and money laundering after allegedly earning $1.2 million by placing bets on a prediction market using confidential company information. The employee, who worked at the company for 12 years, has been placed on leave.
New York PostA Google software engineer was charged last week with wire fraud and money laundering after prosecutors said he used nonpublic company data to place bets on a prediction market. Michele Spagnuolo, 36, allegedly earned $1.2 million in profits by wagering on which celebrities would rank among the most-searched people worldwide.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York said the bets were placed between October 15 and December 4 of last year and totaled $2.7 million in wagers.
Spagnuolo held the title of staff information security engineer and had worked at Google for 12 years. Employees at that level typically receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual salary and stock grants, according to compensation data cited by the Wall Street Journal.
Google shares traded above $370 as of Monday. The company said Spagnuolo was placed on leave after the charges were announced. A Google spokesperson stated the employee accessed marketing material through a tool available to all staff but called the use of confidential information for betting a serious policy breach.
The company said it is cooperating with law enforcement.
Prosecutors alleged that after winning the bets, Spagnuolo took steps to conceal the source of the proceeds. The Department of Justice has increased scrutiny of prediction market activity in recent months. The complaint noted that Spagnuolo lives in Switzerland and used the online alias AlphaRaccoon while placing the wagers.
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