‘U the Man’: DOJ Probes Brandon Charnas for Insider Trading (1)

Brandon Charnas, already famous for being married to a social media icon, and infamous for refusing to cooperate with an insider-trading probe, is advancing into notoriety.

Not only is the US Securities and Exchange Commission looking at the $385,000 the regulator says he made using potentially non-public information about a bid by Staples for rival Office Depot. Now the Justice Department is pursuing a criminal investigation into the trades, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Charnas and nine other people — including a hedge fund manager, a real estate developer and the former head of a woman’s fashion ...