Curse of the SEC

From the Chicago Tribune --

Cubs bidder Cuban accused of insider trading

November 17, 2008 at 10:44 AM
"Mark Cuban, Internet entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was charged with insider trading Monday related to the stock of an online search engine, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The SEC alleges that in June 2004, Mamma.com Inc. invited Cuban to participate in a stock offering that would be conducted at a discount to the company's prevailing market price.
Within hours of receiving this information, according to the civil complaint, Cuban called his broker and instructed him to sell his entire position in the company. By selling his stock before the public announcement of the offering, Cuban avoided losses of more than $750,000, the SEC said.
Messages for Cuban and his legal representatives were not immediately returned.
It's unclear how the civil charges will affect Cuban's ability to continue to participate in the sale of the Chicago Cubs, owned by Tribune Co."
-- Ameet Sachdev

This can not help Cuban's chance of buying the Chicago Cubs. Even if he is found not guilty, this severely hurts his reputation. Baseball owners are a very conservative group and they probably do not like this too much. It will be interesting to see watch actions NBA commissioner David Stern will take right away.

A response from Cuban can be found at his blog.
http://blogmaverick.com/