Oskar Elmgart, of Millburn, New Jersey, and Raymond Leibman, of West Orange, New Jersey, have settled Securities and Exchange Commission insider trading charges filed on May 18, 2026, for trading in Matterport Inc. securities ahead of the company’s April 22, 2024 announcement that CoStar Group had agreed to acquire it in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $1.6 billion, or $5.50 per share. Both men obtained material nonpublic information about the acquisition from a close family member who was a Matterport employee and worked on a commercial agreement related to the deal in the weeks leading up to the announcement. Between April 16 and April 19, 2024, Elmgart purchased 260 short-term, out-of-the-money Matterport call options for $5,020. Leibman purchased 10,000 shares of Matterport stock on April 19.
When the acquisition was announced, Matterport’s stock surged 176% on the day, closing at $5.92 versus a prior close of approximately $2.15. Elmgart sold his options and made $63,050 in illicit profits. Leibman’s position generated unrealized profits of $30,581. Elmgart is ordered to pay $63,050 in disgorgement, $6,173 in prejudgment interest, and a $63,050 civil penalty, totaling $132,273. Leibman is ordered to pay $30,581 in disgorgement, $2,795 in prejudgment interest, and a $30,581 civil penalty, totaling $63,957. Combined, the two men will pay $196,230, subject to court approval.
The Family Member Worked on a Commercial Agreement Tied to the CoStar Acquisition in the Weeks Before the Announcement
The SEC’s complaint, filed in the District of New Jersey, charges both men under the misappropriation theory of insider trading. Neither Elmgart nor Leibman was an employee or insider of Matterport or CoStar. They obtained the information through a close family member who was a Matterport employee working directly on a commercial agreement related to the pending acquisition. That employee’s work placed them in contact with nonpublic deal information in the weeks before the April 22, 2024 public announcement. The family member is not charged in the complaint. The misappropriation theory applies because Elmgart and Leibman traded on information that belonged to Matterport and its shareholders, obtained through a relationship of trust and confidence with the source.
The timing of both men’s trades is precise and damaging. Elmgart began buying call options on April 16, four trading days before the announcement, and continued through April 19. Leibman bought 10,000 Matterport shares on April 19, three days before the announcement and the last trading day before the deal was disclosed. At the April 19 closing price, Matterport traded at approximately $2.15 per share. The $5.50 acquisition price represented a more than 150% premium to that level. Both men knew what the market did not.
Elmgart Bought 260 Out-of-the-Money Call Options for $5,020 and Turned Them Into $63,050 in Four Days
The structure of Elmgart’s trade reflects a deliberate bet on a near-term price spike. He purchased 260 call options between April 16 and April 19, all short-term and all out-of-the-money relative to Matterport’s trading price at the time of purchase. Out-of-the-money options on a stock trading below $2.50 per share are essentially worthless unless the stock moves sharply higher. Elmgart paid $5,020 for the entire position. Following the 176% single-day surge on April 22, he sold the options for total proceeds that generated $63,050 in illicit profits, more than a 12-to-1 return on his investment in under a week.
Leibman’s approach was simpler. He bought 10,000 shares of Matterport common stock at market price on April 19, investing approximately $21,500. When the deal was announced, his unrealized gain was $30,581, representing the difference between his purchase price and the post-announcement market price. Unlike Elmgart, who sold his position, Leibman’s profits are described in the SEC’s complaint as unrealized at the time of the filing, meaning he may not have sold the shares. The disgorgement order covers the full unrealized profit regardless.
CoStar Completed the Matterport Acquisition in March 2025 for $1.6 Billion
Matterport, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, is a 3D spatial data and digital twin technology company that had approximately 440 employees and $158 million in 2023 revenue at the time of the acquisition announcement. CoStar Group, a Washington DC-based provider of commercial real estate data and marketplaces, announced the deal on April 22, 2024, at $5.50 per share — a 50/50 cash and stock structure with a symmetrical collar. The acquisition was completed in March 2025, approximately 10 months after announcement, after Matterport stockholder approval and regulatory clearance. Matterport now operates as a subsidiary of CoStar Group.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Han Nguyen and Julia Green of the Division of Enforcement’s Market Abuse Unit, with assistance from FINRA. The Market Abuse Unit is the SEC’s dedicated team for detecting and prosecuting trading in advance of mergers, acquisitions, and other market-moving events. The case was filed and settled simultaneously on May 18, 2026, with both defendants consenting to the proposed final judgments subject to court approval by the District of New Jersey.
Conclusion
Oskar Elmgart and Raymond Leibman traded on information that reached them through a family member who worked on the deal they were betting on. Elmgart turned $5,020 into $63,050 in four trading days. Leibman bought 10,000 shares three days before a 176% stock surge. The combined profit from both positions was approximately $93,631. The combined penalty they will pay is $196,230 — roughly twice their combined profits, the standard disgorgement-plus-matching-penalty structure the SEC applies in insider trading settlements. The Matterport deal closed in March 2025. The family member who gave them the information is not charged. The investigation that caught them was conducted by the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit, which was specifically built for exactly this kind of pre-announcement trading pattern.
