Brandon Charnas

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced it filed an action against Brandon Charnas, a real estate broker based in New York and South Florida, seeking an order directing him to comply with an investigative subpoena for documents.

According to the SEC's application, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the SEC is investigating possible insider trading violations in the securities of The ODP Corporation ("ODP") d/b/a Office Depot in advance of an announcement on Monday, January 11, 2021, by USR Parent, Inc. d/b/a Staples of its offer to acquire ODP. According to the application, Charnas purchased ODP common stock and out-of-the-money call options a few weeks prior to the announcement, resulting in combined profits of at least $385,000. The application states that on December 23, 2020, surrounding communications with other traders in ODP, Charnas purchased out-of-the-money call options constituting approximately 90% of ODP's overall call option trading volume that day.

As stated in the application, Charnas has improperly asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege and failed to comply with the document production obligations of the subpoena. The SEC's application seeks an order from the court directing Charnas to show cause why the court should not compel him to produce documents as required by the subpoena. The SEC is continuing its fact-finding investigation and, to date, has not concluded that any individual or entity has violated the federal securities laws.