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The Times of India
The Times of India
World
Sumit Roy

Streamer D4vd becomes center of alleged $1.2M insider betting scandal involving a Google engineer

A shocking new case involving streamer and singer D4vd has caught attention online after a Google employee was arrested for allegedly using secret company data to make money from online bets. Federal prosecutors say the employee used private Google search information to place bets on prediction website Polymarket. The bets were connected to D4vd becoming one of the most searched people on Google in 2025. Authorities claim the man made around $1.2 million from the bets after risking less than $1,000.

The employee was identified as Michele Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen who worked as a software engineer at Google. According to court documents, Spagnuolo allegedly had access to Google’s internal “Year in Search” data before it became public. Prosecutors say he saw that D4vd had passed rapper Kendrick Lamar as the most searched person on Google in 2025. Soon after, he allegedly placed several bets using a Polymarket account called “AlphaRaccoon.”

Google engineer accused of using secret search data in D4vd-related bets

Officials say the betting market had given almost no chance for D4vd to become the number one searched person on Google that year. Because of this, the bets had huge payout odds. Prosecutors believe Spagnuolo used private information from his job to unfairly win the bets before anyone else knew the search results. Authorities also claim he later tried to hide where the money came from.

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