An engineer at Google has been charged with insider trading after he allegedly made $1.2million (£894,330) from betting that D4vd would be the most-searched for person in 2025.
Michele Spagnuolo is accused of placing bets in relation to Google’s end-of-year list through US cryptocurrency-based prediction site Polymarket. Sky News cites legal documents from yesterday (Wednesday May 28).
The US Justice Department has charged the Italian 36-year-old, who now lives in Switzerland. He has since been placed on leave, a Google spokesperson confirmed.
Spagnuolo allegedly made his money betting on long-shot candidates, per the complaint. These included the musician D4vd (real name David Anthony Burke), who was charged with the murder of a 14-year-old girl, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, last month. Burke has pleased not guilty.
D4vd featured on Google’s 2025 most-searched list after he was identified as a suspect in the investigation into Rivas Hernandez’s death in November, before his eventual arrest this April.
Spagnuolo is accused of using insider information when betting on November 27 that D4vd would top Google’s yearly ranking for 2025.
Google’s official stats then confirmed a week later, on December 4, that D4vd was the Number One most-searched for person on the site last year. Kendrick Lamar followed in second place, ahead of Jimmy Kimmel (Number Three), Tyler Robinson (Number Four) and Pope Leo XIV (Number Five).
The bet was particularly profitable due to the markets predicting a “near-zero probability” that D4vd would take the top spot, according to the complaint.
Spagnuolo allegedly placed another bet in October that the aforementioned rapper Lamar would be at Number One, among other wagers, per Sky News‘ report.
Google’s internal data showed that the ‘GNX’ star was on course to be the most-searched figure of 2025.
Jay Clayton, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said: “Insider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted.”
Google said it is working with law enforcement. The tech giant also warned that using confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of company policy.
Polymarket, meanwhile, said that it helped investigate Spagnuolo’s alleged illegal activity. The company went on to say that it was the only prediction platform to date whose cooperation had resulted in insider trading charges in the US.
Last month, D4vd was accused by prosecutors of dismembering Rivas Hernandez’s body with a chainsaw in his garage after buying tools online. The victim’s remains had been found severely decomposed in the front boot of a Tesla registered to Burke last September.
It was recently revealed that D4vd had been quietly dropped by his record label late last year.
