The U.S. Justice Department charged Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo with insider trading, alleging the employee made $1.2 million trading on Polymarket based on confidential business information.
Spagnuolo, who used the name “AlphaRaccoon” on Polymarket, has worked at Google for over 12 years, according to information on LinkedIn.
“As alleged, Spagnuolo violated the duties he owed to his employer and used Google’s confidential business information to make more than $1.2 million in trading profits on Polymarket,” Jay Clayton, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press release. “Insider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted.”
Prediction markets like Polymarket, Kalshi, and others allow users to bet on pretty much anything. Insider trading is not allowed on these platforms because it’s illegal, but some users still commit the offense. The Justice Department recently charged a U.S. Army soldier for allegedly using his insider knowledge of the U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to make $400,000 on Polymarket.
According to the complaint, Spagnuolo risked over $2.7 million on wagers related to Google’s 2025 Year in Search, a marketing campaign in which Google reveals the world’s most popular searches of the year. Spagnuolo allegedly accessed confidential, internal Google Search data about the most-searched celebrities to inform his bets.
“Polymarket worked closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the CFTC, and is the only prediction platform to date whose cooperation has led to insider trading charges in the United States,” a Polymarket spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Blockchain trading is transparent, traceable, and bad actors leave footprints. We are committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets as well as enforcing our rules and working with our regulators and law enforcement.”
A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch the company is working with law enforcement on its investigation.
“The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies,” Google said in an emailed statement, “We’ve placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action.”
Just ahead of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, Bloomberg has published leaked renders of what Apple’s planned AI upgrade could look like on iPhone — including a brand-new Siri app meant to rival ChatGPT and other AI chatbots — as well as how Siri’s new capabilities will be woven throughout the operating system.
The images were produced by Bloomberg based on what it saw and learned from sources.
While you’ll still be able to press a button in iOS 27 to trigger Siri, the animation and response will now emerge from the iPhone’s Dynamic Island — that’s the black pill-shaped area at the top of the screen that today houses Live Activities, the real-time updates and interactive displays from apps that appear directly on the phone’s Home Screen. This mode will work best for quick voice queries or searches, much like how people use Siri currently.
A new mode, however, will put Siri-powered search within easy reach, capitalizing on people’s muscle memory for swiping down on their screen to access Spotlight Search — a built-in way to find information from both your phone and the web in one place. The swipe-down gesture will still open search, but now those searches will draw on the AI-powered Siri, which includes a rebuilt AI model that uses Google’s Gemini AI technology under the hood for added intelligence.
From here, iPhone users can search, launch apps, start messages, ask about the weather, add calendar appointments, search their notes, and trigger app shortcuts, Bloomberg reports, with results displayed in formatted text in a card-style interface that also emerges from the Dynamic Island.
Apple’s approach to AI is strikingly similar to its earlier multi-billion dollar partnership with Google that made Google the default search engine on iPhone. Just as building a search engine from scratch was never in Apple’s playbook, AI presents a similar calculus — it’s too expensive and complex to go it alone, at least right now. So Apple is working with outside partners for AI technology that users want today, while simultaneously building out its own models, including local AI, that runs on local devices rather than the cloud — an approach that allows Apple to lean into it privacy brand without needing to catch up.
Bloomberg also notes there will be a new standalone Siri app — as previously reported — designed to compete directly with chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others. The app will surface your past chat history and allow you to upload documents and photos, in addition to text.
Scale, as ever, is Apple’s advantage. While ChatGPT now has 900 million weekly active users, Apple’s install base (all devices, not just iPhone) is 2.5 billion — meaning the company has an unmatched runway to introduce AI to people who haven’t yet adopted standalone AI tools.
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Former Super Eagles’ captain, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha led two current members of the ream – Samuel Chukwueze and Toku Arokodare – as models during the launch of new ‘collocation kit’ by Nike.
Sports247 gathered that the American sports kit makers rolled out the red carpet in grand style, with Okocha, Chukwueze and Arokodare joined in the ceremony by some musicians, actors and other stars of showbusiness.
Joining the three football stars was London-based artist, Slawn, who played a key role in unveiling the highly-anticipated 2026 collaboration kits during a campaign line-up that was tagged an absolute cultural reset.
Though organisers pointed out that the new kit were general designs, not basically for the Super Eagles, they still acknowledged the status of Nigeria’s football national team as one of the highly esteemed users of Nike’s brands.
A promotional report for the event noted in part, “The collection brings together an incredible mix of Nigerian icons.
We’re talking football legends Jay Jay Okocha, Tolu Arokodare, and Samuel Chukwueze, alongside veteran actress, Patience Ozokwo, whilst musical trailblazers, Kida Kudz and DEELA anchor the streetwear aesthetic.
“The collection itself translates Slawn’s signature graffiti style straight onto athletic staples, giving classic fan gear a complete rethink.
The standout piece is a white relaxed-fit graphic t-shirt that features a vibrant, spray-gradient lime green bottom half.
“The chest is stamped with the official Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) crest and bold, puffy script lettering that reads ‘NAIJA’ – a detail mirrored perfectly on the matching white fleece drawstring shorts.
“With the models rocking coordinated green manicured nails and graphic print trainers against Slawn’s iconic black-and-white doodle backdrops, the visuals feel less like a standard jersey launch and more like a complete lifestyle movement.”