A former Google worker was arrested and accused of fraud after allegedly using confidential company information to place bets on the success of musician D4vd.
In April 2026, David Anthony Burke, known as D4vd, was arrested and charged with murder. This followed the discovery seven months prior of the remains of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Her body, badly decomposed and dismembered, was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke.
Since his discovery, D4vd’s story has quickly gone viral, leading to many predictions and bets being placed on platforms like Polymarket.
Reportedly, a Google worker misused their understanding of how Google Search works to illegally profit from trading on a platform called Polymarket. This activity, considered insider trading, earned them approximately $1.2 million.
Google engineer made $1.2M from insider bets on D4vd search results
Google engineer Michele Spagnuolo is facing accusations of using internal company tools – specifically, data about what people search for – to gamble on how high the artist D4vd would rank in Google search results.
People were betting on whether D4vd would become highly searched on Google, including predictions about him appearing in the top five most searched people of 2025, and even becoming the most searched person this year.
According to reports, Spagnuolo made $1.2 million by using his Polymarket account, known as ‘AlphaRaccoon,’ to vote in favor of certain predictions.
According to prosecutors, Spagnuolo actively tried to hide his illegal use of confidential information by disguising where the money came from and who owned it.
An engineer was arrested on May 27th and charged with money laundering, commodities fraud, and wire fraud. According to TMZ, he didn’t enter a plea in court but was released after posting a $2.25 million bond.
D4vd’s recent arrest has had a significant impact, leading to many former colleagues cutting ties with him. As a result, his music has been removed from popular platforms like Fortnite, Madden, and the official soundtrack for Arcane.
D4vd is due back in court on June 17, 2026, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 29, 2026, in Los Angeles.
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2026-05-28 22:48