Mark Cuban busy with the SEC in the NBA off-season

June 4, 10:22 AMSports ExaminerPaula Duffy

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          Cuban in court last week. AP Photo/Tony Guitierez

Last November we learned that Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks was still busy on the stock trading front. The SEC filed a civil complaint against Cuban that alleged he engaged in insider trading when he sold his shares in mamma.com. Original story, here.

Unlike most government defendants who want to play nice in order to avoid making the government more cranky than it already is, Cuban came out swinging. He posted a piece on his blog that accused the SEC of ignoring evidence that would have eliminated the need to bring the suit.

His lawyers then added to the chorus of outrage when they made claims that an SEC staffer had engaged in a running email dialogue with Cuban about his investment in a movie that the staffer allegedly found offensive and politically explosive. The lawyers hinted there was a motive other than the stated allegations in the case for the government bringing the hammer down on Cuban.

Last week Cuban filed a law suit of his own that is intended to get documents considered critical to his case out of the possession of the government agency. In essence he's telling the SEC that it has to look harder for what they say can't be found. In general, judges hate cases like this and lawyers are cautioned not to start one without plenty of ammunition.

And then yesterday bloomberg.com published a report that the SEC made public a set of facts that makes it plain to those in the know that it has begun an internal probe into the allegations of the Cuban camp about the staffer. No longer beating around the bush, Cuban's lawyers said the allegations contain:

what we considered egregious violations of conduct by SEC enforcement staff to manufacture a case against Mr. Cuban"

I may be appalled by some of Cuban's behavior in the recently completed series between his team and the Denver Nuggets but I'm on his side when it comes to holding the government's feet to the fire and exposing a personal vendetta if one exists.

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