Le Basketbawl

The “Associated Press” reported Monday that the S.E.C. filed a civil lawsuit in a Dallas courtroom against Dallas Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban. The agency contends that Cuban uside inside information to avoid suffering $750 thousand in losses. All the S.E.C. is doing is looking to fine the Mavericks team owner, and to take away any earnings that he would have made in the transaction. Cuban as of this writing has not been charged with any crime, that would fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Attorney in Dallas. So far there has been no comment from the U.S. Attorney’s office on the matter.

The suit alleges that Cuban informed his broker to get rid of all shares of a company name Mamma.com, after being given confidential information that the price was about to drop. Scott Friestad, who is deputy director of the Commission’s Division of Enforcement issued a statement Monday. In his statement Friestad wrote “As we allege in the complaint, Mamma.com entrusted Mr. Cuban with nonpublic information after he promised to keep the information confidential. Less than four hours later, Mr. Cuban betrayed that trust by placing an order to sell all of his shares. It is fundamentally unfair for someone to use access to nonpublic information to improperly gain an edge on the market.”

An attorney for Cuban decided to use the best defense is offense routine. A statement by Cuban on his blog Monday said he would challenge the suit. The “Wall Street Journal” reports that  they spoke with Cuban’s lawyer Christopher Clark. Clark told the paper “We’re shocked. We find it incredible that given all the important issues that the SEC has to address with regard to today’s economy they’ve sought to bring a $750,000 case relating to a he-said she-said about one trade against a person whose integrity has never been questioned before with regard to the securities markets.”

Mr. Clark, I don’t know a whole lot about economics, but I know this much your statement is garbage. It is exactly cases like this that put our economy in the dire straights it is in. Mark Cuban is a billionaire!  Losing $750,000 is like losing fifty bucks for you and me! It stinks, but I am not about to trash my reputation for fifty bucks! Yet if these allegations prove to be true, that is essentially what Mark Cuban has done.

When Mark Cuban first took over the Dallas Mavericks and came into the Association, I thought he was a breath of fresh air. However his act has gotten old over the years, and this certainly will not help his reputation. Mark if this is true, you truly should be ashamed. At one time we all thought you were better than that.