Mark Cuban's insider trading charges dismissed
Filed under: People
When the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had charged Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and one of the richest people in America, with insider trading involving shares of Mamma.com, there was an immediate wave of skepticism.
Even Gary Weiss, a long-time critic of Mr. Cuban, wasn't convinced. He wrote that "According to the SEC, Cuban became an 'insider' because the CEO of the company told him about an upcoming PIPE deal. Does that mean that if I own shares, a CEO can make me an 'insider' by calling me and blurting out some inside information? . . . Here's what I wonder: if this case is as open and shut as the SEC makes it out to be, why did it take four years to bring charges?"
Now U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater has granted Cuban's motion to dismiss the charges against him. While the SEC has 30 days to file an amended complaint, this is a very, very rare setback for the SEC -- which is almost always able to quickly settle any charges it brings.
It's too soon to know what the SEC will do, but here's hoping it gets a life -- and start cracking down on actual fraud, instead of pursuing pointless cases against billionaires who avoid losing a few hundred thousand dollars by selling stock in a company most people have never heard of.
The SEC could start by reading this blog post from Fox Business anchor Cody Willard -- and take a good hard look at the disclosures being produced by Goldman Sachs (GS).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-17-2009 @ 2:55PM
noelmark said...
Hes guilty
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7-17-2009 @ 2:39PM
noelmark said...
Why did Martha Stewart goes to jail for taking advice from her broker, and Mark Cuban is not guilty he must be guilty of something, look at the time it took ,, look at both cases, someone got paid, and it was not Martha,, This is the type of government we are being trained for, Do you want to go to court, Americans you are under attack if you don't become a supper citizen, find out who these people are, write down there names put the names on the front of your refrigerator ,( Less we forget ) Equal Justus under the law
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7-17-2009 @ 3:25PM
skids said...
another prime example of the rich can do whatever they want without consequences.
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7-17-2009 @ 5:01PM
nick said...
Who did the dirt bag buy off????
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7-17-2009 @ 7:32PM
dang1067 said...
It's easy to commit these kind of crimes when you're wealthy...
Wall Street is where you go for online casino gambling... It's very easy, all you need is a computer, large bank accounts, acquire several online future trading accounts and place your bets with a click of a mouse button.
And guess who's get the most cuts??? ANSWER: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citi Group, AIG and your corrupt Congressmen, Congresswomen, Senators!!!
Who the Banker you ask??? Well, who else??? The Federal Reserve of course!!! Using TRILLION$$$ of your money they robbed from all of you!!!
Who's the gambling cops you ask??? Well, it's the Corrupt CFTC of course!!!! CFTC the Evil-Wolf shepherding the heard of emaciated sheep AKA: American tax-payers!!!
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7-17-2009 @ 11:58PM
Gary Boldt said...
I find it very interesting that the blood sucking politicans and their families can trade with insider information and not be held accountable.
All the politicians that spend tax payer money on pork barrell projects should be locked up forever for not doing their due dilligence or excersing fudiciary resposibility with our tax money.
Get your heads out from between your legs and look where you are taking our country.
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9-04-2009 @ 8:50AM
bill said...
With the SEC's history you all seem to think Cuban guilty? Stewart did not get advice from a broker, she is supposed to have gotten it from the CEO of Imclone. Second, she did her time as a result of lying to investigators if my memory is correct. Third she lost a lot of company value compared to the $45K she 'made' in her case. Cuban believe he was screwed and fought. Yes he has money for the lawyers and stones big enough to take them on. Judge seemed to agree.
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7-18-2009 @ 7:20AM
Rich said...
Everyone should read the Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi, July 9 issue. Goldman Sachs makes Cuban look like a choir boy.
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7-18-2009 @ 9:06AM
Mo said...
Dubya did the exact same insider trading when he sold his stock to buy a stake in the Texas Rangers. If Cuban had been prosecuted, several questions would have popped up. More corruption from the corrupt that just keeps on giving...................
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