Twists, Turns, PIPEs, And Screws: Insider Trading And Mark Cuban

March 7, 2013  |  The Insider: White Collar Defense and Securities Enforcement

On Tuesday, March 5, the SEC’s insider trading case against billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban took a new twist when a federal district court in Texas declined to end the 2008 civil enforcement action. The SEC alleges that Cuban engaged in insider trading when he sold 600,000 shares of Mamma.com Inc., a company in which he was the largest shareholder, after learning the company intended to offer a private investment in public equity (PIPE). Although the Court characterized the evidence against Cuban as “spotty,” “brief,” and “ambiguous,” it nevertheless concluded that the case should be allowed to proceed to trial because, according to the Court, certain understandings that Cuban would not disclose or trade based upon confidential information he received, may have been “implicit” in the communications between Cuban and company insiders. Unfortunately, the Court’s decision, a self-proclaimed “close” call, further muddies the waters of insider trading law. [...]

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