by Brian Solis
Mark Cuban at TC50 2008
In a surprising move, The SEC filed and officially announced insider trading charges against Mark Cuban. The SEC contends that Cuban sold 600,000 shares of the stock in Mamma.com (now known as Copernic), an Internet search engine company, on the basis of material, non-public information concerning an impending stock offering.
According to Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, “Insider trading cases are a high priority for the Commission. This case demonstrates yet again that the Commission will aggressively pursue illegal insider trading whenever it occurs.”
Mark Cuban, however, responded to the allegations through his blog, “I wish I could say more, but I will have to leave it to this, and let the judicial process do its job.”
He continued in a formal statement, “I am disappointed that the Commission chose to bring this case based upon its Enforcement staff’s win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff’s process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government’s claims are false and they will be proven to be so.”
Ralph C. Ferrara, Esq., Cuban’s attorney, also published a statement, “This matter, which has been pending before the Commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the Commission’s claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its Enforcement Division.”
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