Breaking news this morning that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Mavs' owner Mark Cuban with insider trading, stemming from a 2004 sale of stock in an Internet company.
Me? I dunno the diff between "insider trading" and a "hot stock tip", but I do this ain't good. And that it will likely end Cuban's pursuit of owning the Chicago Cubs. Right?
UPDATE: Cuban responds.
According to the SEC, which sent Martha Stewart to jail for five months in conjunction with similar charges a couple years back, Cuban avoided losses of $750,000 by selling 600,000 shares he was told privately would be diluted in a new stock offering by the search-engine company Mamma.com.
"Less than four hours later, Mr. Cuban betrayed that trust by placing an order to sell all of his shares,” said Scott W. Friestad, the SEC’s deputy director of enforcement. “It is fundamentally unfair for someone to use access to nonpublic information to improperly gain an edge on the market.”
The complaint, filed in Texas, demands Cuban forfeit the monetary losses he avoided and pay a civil penalty.
Somewhere there's a snarky line about Cuban's trouble excecuting trades in the NBA or on Wall Street, but I'm not touching it.
I'd like to think there's a chance that a billionaire with that much common sense and business brilliance is innocent.
But, nonetheless, wow. – Richie Whitt
