Posted on 11/17/2008 9:07:23 AM PST by OL Hickory
****UPDATE**** SEC Charges Mark Cuban With Insider Trading
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed insider trading charges against Mark Cuban, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks, for allegedly dumping shares in Mamma.com upon learning it was raising money in a private offering....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122693827604333637.html
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Shades of Martha Stewart! Let’s see if the feds give Cuban the same treatment. I really think Martha had bad lawyers plus being female. Should have only paid a huge fine and been put on probation. The people responsible for the currant economic crisis are the real crooks and deserve way more punishment and jail time.
Here is what I don’t get. After he found out this insider information, what was he supposed to do...hold on to the shares and lose the money?
Insider trading laws are stupid. People should have the right to trade with whatever info they have.
Let the markets be free.
Talk about irony.
I may be naive3, but tell me again why insider trading is a crime. Is it supposed to constitute fraud? For me, I want all the information I can get, I tell you.
“Insider trading laws are stupid. People should have the right to trade with whatever info they have.”
Bravo! It is possible to “cheat” the stock market, of course (bridge financing for a B.S. company, for instance). I just don’t see insider trading as it.
That's insider trading.....it's illegal, and should be.
That being said....I know, and maybe you know it too...that "news" gets leaked...all the time.
fwiw-
“and you find out some ‘news’ that probably will drive price...you can’t act on that ‘news’.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I think any price, be it for stocks or apples, should reflect the most recent news. The more perfect the information, the better the market. How long do we have to wait to see an accurate price so that everything’s all fair? It seems silly to me to punish people for acting in their own best interest, and it seems rather arbitrary where they draw the line between insider and outsider information.
These arent criminal charges. SEC only has authority to file civil charges.
He'll pay a fine and disgorge the profits, and I guess continue his usual ranting and raving.
That's a very distinct advantage........
Let the markets be free.
That’s pretty convoluted under these circumstances. The point of the laws are to protect the integrity of the market. He allegedly had information that was not available to the public. He acted upon it, and some sucker(s) who didn’t have the information bought his shares and lost money. How long do you think the equity markrts would last if people in the know could utilize their knowledge to screw those who didn’t.
If he’s guilty, he should go to jail. I bet his cocky lawyers are already trying to reach a deal with the government.
“That’s a very distinct advantage........”
I have a problem with the state deciding what advantages are and aren’t fair, outside of the generally accepted standards of coercion and fraud. It’s hard for me to say definitively that people who get information first “steal” anything from others. And I’m almost positive no one will be able to pinpoint specifically whose rights Mark Cuban violated, unless they say, “Everyone who still owned shares,” and left it at that.
I guess it all comes down to my sense that insider trading has more to do with the age-old irrational war against speculation. Everybody hates greedy, greasy Wall Street types, right? Well, this is the law to hit them with, if no other.
I understand the logic behind insider trading laws but shouldn’t it be the one who gave the information that is guilty instead of the one who received it? If this CEO knew that it was illegal for Cuban to act on the info (as he claims) what was the purpose of giving it to him?
Thanks for the information. I would gladly trade a sock in his mouth for jail time....
Cuban..IF HE IS GUILTY....violated the law...as it now stands.
fwiw-
Cuban had a 6% interest in the Company. The person who provided the information apparently did not profit from it. He allegedly told Cuban that the information was confidential. Mr. Cuban is sophisticated enough in security matters to know this without the admonition. If true, he merely wanted to make money at others’ expense. The fact that he has lots of money is irrelevant. He allegedly made $750,000 on the transaction. If so, by doing it this was worth it to him. I have no sympathy for violators of inside trading laws. It’s the public who gets screwed while these hotshots profit.
If guilty, frog march him off the basketball court and let him change the Maverick’s colors to solid orange.
He supported Obama. String him up then draw and quarter him.
FWIW the "person" who gave him the info was the CEO of the company Cuban had stock in.
I’m with you. It’s politically motivated to shut him up.
They claim he received privileged information and promised he wouldn’t disclose it. He sold his shares instead.
So you leak information to a shareholder, he sells, and it’s somehow his fault?
Correction: this basketball fan in D/FW (Plano to be exact) is cheering.
This Cuban-goof made a deal with the devil when he cashed out of Broadcast.com/Yahoo. He should know that one NEVER makes a deal with the devil and wins.
Every time I see Cuban on tv he looks like he's trying to figure out how he can stab someone/anyone in the back - he tried to do it to former Mav's coach Don Nelson... arbitrator laid the b-slap on Cuban Frankenstein head... had to wipe the dung off his face and write a check to Nelson for millions of $s.
Is this a civil or criminal complaint? If civil case... why?
And another thing... I'm sure this puts a wrench in Cube's bid for the Cubs.
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