Mark Cuban will go on trial in June concerning accusations of insider trading.
Cuban — who made his money in technology and owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks — is accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of using confidential information to profit from the sales of his shares of Mamma.com, reports The New York Times.
In a civil action, the SEC alleges that Cuban took information about a new stock offering that Mamma’s CEO asked him about, then sold his shares. The following day, the shares dropped sharply. Cuban’s sale helped him avoid a loss estimated to be around $750,000.
Cuban’s lawyers have been battling the SEC in the courts since the 2008 filing. In 2009, Judge Fitzwater threw out the case but was overruled by a federal appeals court. While the judge is on record as saying he thought the case was close, he has now decided that the SEC will get its chance to make its argument in court.
Cuban’s lawyer, Christopher Clark, issued a statement saying, “Judge Fitzwater was constrained by governing law to accept as true, evidence that the judge himself explained is incomplete and flawed, and we very much look forward to trial where we will demonstrate that the S.E.C.’s ‘evidence’ is nothing but fabrication and speculation.”
