Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks may have had some rough times on the hard court. But now he’s facing hard times in a real court.
By DAVE MICHAELS and BRENDAN M. CASE
Dallas Morning News
Federal regulators on Monday accused Mark Cuban of insider trading, saying he sold shares in an Internet company shortly after learning about a stock offering that was likely to push down the value of his shares.
The civil lawsuit involves a 4-year-old stock sale that Mr. Cuban has written about on his blog. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Mr. Cuban avoided a $750,000 loss by selling his 6 percent stake after company executives told him confidentially about a stock offering restricted to major investors.
“It is fundamentally unfair for someone to use access to nonpublic information to improperly gain an edge on the market,” said Scott W. Friestad, the SEC’s deputy director of enforcement.
Mr. Cuban, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a suitor for the Chicago Cubs, denied the allegations and wrote on his blog Monday that he would fight the civil complaint.
Mr. Cuban wrote in March 2005 that he sold his stake in Mamma.com, an Internet search engine, because he disliked the tactic of selling stock below its market price, which is how Mamma.com’s CEO told him it would issue more shares in June 2004.
For Full Story
Read Mark Cuban’s Blog and Comments On SEC Allegations
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