The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading relating to his sale of 600,000 shares of Mamma.com Inc., an Internet search engine company. According to the allegations, Cuban sold these shares based on information that was not readily available to the public. Cuban, for his part, is denying any wrongdoing, and is accusing the SEC of “win-at-any-cost ambitions.” This case, which has been before the Commission for nearly two years, does not look to proceed any faster than it has thus far, which means we might have to wait a while before any substantive result comes from this.
- “This just in: the WSJ is reporting that the SEC has charged billionaire entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading relating to trades made of Mamma.com. Click here for the WSJ story; here for the SEC’s complaint. It hasn’t been a good stretch for Cuban. Last week, reports appeared indicating that Cuban had “zero chance” of buying the Chicago Cubs, which real estate mogul (and Michigan Law grad) Sam Zell has put up for sale.” – from Breaking News: Mark Cuban Charged with Insider Trading, at WSJ.com Law Blog
- “Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been charged by the SEC with insider trading relating to Mamma.com. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Mark Cuban insider trading charges stem from and allegation that he sold shares of Mamma.com prior to a private offering” – from “Mark Cuban Insider Trading Charges Relate To Mamma.com, Now Known As Copernic”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/17/mark-cuban-insider-tradin_n_144320.html, at Business on HuffingtonPost.com
- “The S.E.C. said Mr. Cuban sold the stock in the company, Mamma.com, based on nonpublic information about an impending stock offering. The commission asserted that Mr. Cuban avoided losses in excess of $750,000 by selling his stock prior to the public announcement of the offering. The commission filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Cuban in Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas, accusing him of violating federal securities laws. It said it was seeking to impose financial penalties and confiscate gains from the trades.” – from S.E.C. Accuses Mark Cuban of Insider Trading, at DealBook
- “Of course, there are two sides to every story, and you can be sure that Cuban’s high-priced legal team is working on his right now. However, the SEC has cited what it says is the entrepreneur’s own language from 2004 to make its case. In the Statement of Facts of the SEC complaint, Cuban is quoted as saying “Well, now I’m screwed. I can’t sell,” to Mamma.com’s CEO after being told of an upcoming shareholder dilution event. If that quote is accurate, it would appear that Cuban knew better—but went ahead and made the sale anyway.” – from Mark Cuban charged with insider trading by the SEC, at Industry Standard News and Predictions
- “In a blog post from March 2005, Cuban fully admits that he sold the stock because of the PIPE financing, which when combined with the testimony of the CEO of Mamma.com makes him look pretty guilty. Unless he can prove that that he disclosed the information before actually placing the sell order, he’s in big trouble and his own blog could be used against him. Or it could help him if the post proves the timing works out in his favor. That’s the key point of the case, and one that is—for the moment—still unclear.” – from The Mark Cuban Scandal For Dummies, at Deadspin
Comments