Google Engineer Accused of Polymarket Insider Trading Says He Was Just ‘Gambling’

Michele Spagnuolo, a former Google engineer, was arrested in May for allegedly insider-trading on Polymarket, profiting more than $1.2 million under the alias “AlphaRaccoon.” His lawyers moved to dismiss, claiming the bets were gambling, not regulated swaps, and that U.S. law doesn’t apply because he is a non-U.S. citizen who placed the wagers from Zurich on a non-U.S. platform. The dispute centers on whether prediction-market contracts fall under the Commodities Exchange Act, a question that could reach the Supreme Court.