Unsplash.com: sara b / YouTube: Zach Sang Show
A now-former Google employee has been arrested and charged with fraud for using company data to make insider bets regarding disgraced music artist D4vd.
D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, was arrested and formally charged with murder in April 2026, seven months after the dismembered and badly decomposed body of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to him.
Ever since the discovery, D4vd’s case has become a massive, viral news story, which has prompted no shortage of bets on prediction markets like Polymarket.
In fact, a Google employee allegedly used their knowledge of the search engine’s systems to engage in insider trading regarding D4vd on Polymarket, which gave him a payout to the tune of $1.2 million.
LA County Sheriff’s Office
Google engineer made $1.2M from insider bets on D4vd search results
Authorities have accused Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo of using company software that tracks user searches to place bets regarding D4vd’s ranking on the engine.
The bets included making predictions that D4vd would appear on “Google’s Top 5 Most Searched People of 2025,” and “Will D4vd be the #1 searched person on Google this year.”
Spagnuolo reportedly used his Polymarket account, under the name ‘AlphaRaccoon,’ to vote ‘yes’ in these polls, earning him a $1.2 million payday.
Prosecutors say Spagnuolo then “took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information by attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his unlawful proceeds.”
Unsplash.com: Maxim HopmanAuthorities accused the former Google engineer of using the search engine’s search-tracking software to make insider bets on D4vd’s ranking in Google search results.
The engineer was arrested on Wednesday, May 27 on charges of money laundering, commodities fraud, and wire fraud. TMZ states that he did not enter a plea, and has since been released on a $2.25 million bond.
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The fallout of D4vd’s arrest has been massive; many of the artist’s former collaborators have distanced themselves from him in the aftermath, with his songs getting removed from projects like Fortnite, Madden, and even the Arcane official soundtrack.
D4vd’s next hearing is scheduled for June 17, 2026, to be followed by a preliminary hearing on June 29, 2026 in Los Angeles.
