Thursday, August 11, 2011
Eric Adelson
http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/daily-take/201108/did-mark-cuban-predict-market-crash
It's been a year of vindication for Mark Cuban. The owner of the Dallas Mavericks quieted a lot of the critics who said he was a loudmouth who didn't know how to run a basketball franchise. Now his team is the best in basketball.
But Cuban is also proving somewhat prophetic in a much more unsettling way. In the spring of last year, only three days after the harrowing May 6 "Flash Crash" that temporarily plunged the Dow Jones Industrial Average more than 1,000 points within minutes, he wrote a blog post that seems chilling today. He titled it, "What Business is Wall Street In?" And toward the end, he wrote in bold, "There will be another crash."
Granted, there are a lot of doomsayers out there. But Cuban is not that. He's a successful businessman -- he sold his Internet start-up in 1999 for $5.9 billion in Yahoo! stock -- and he says he's been involved in the stock market for the better part of a decade. But what makes his post stand out even more is that he named a specific reason for the predicted "crash" -- professional traders.
"The only people who know what business Wall Street is in are the traders," Cuban wrote on May 9, 2010. "They know what business Wall Street is in better than everyone else. To traders, whether day traders or high frequency or somewhere in between, Wall Street has nothing to do with creating capital for businesses, its original goal. Wall Street is a platform. It's a platform to be exploited by every technological and intellectual means possible."
And more than a year later, a lot of Wall Street experts are blaming high frequency trading for this month's extreme stock market volatility. The swings are wild, to the tune of hundreds of Dow points within minutes, and "the machines" profiled last year by 60 Minutes are getting a lot of the blame.
Cuban went on to make another point, about how entire nations are now bought and sold within seconds and even nanoseconds:
"It’s hard to believe," he wrote, "but evaluating countries as an investment is now easier than evaluating companies."
Lo and behold, the current malaise on Wall Street is tied not to the earnings of public companies -- which are largely strong -- but to the debt load of national economies.
But Cuban came back again to the traders, who he called "hackers" because, he said, they look for weaknesses in the system to exploit for short-term gain.
"The Government needs to create incentives for this business," he wrote, "and extract compensation from the traders/hackers for the systemic failure level of risk they introduce."
He concluded again in bold text with a scary forecast that, although not completely unique to him, now looks more and more accurate:
"There will be another crash, because there are too many players looking for the trillion dollar score."
As of this writing, the Dow Jones sits at 10,719, within 200 points of the 10,520 price at the close of trading on May 6, 2010, the day of the Flash Crash. The Dow has dropped almost exactly 2,000 points in the last month.
Showing posts with label Mark Cuban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Cuban. Show all posts
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Mark Cuban: Coolest Owner in Sports
The victory of the Dallas Mavericks over the Miami Heat in the NBA finals has largely been portrayed as a deserved vindication of Dirk Nowitzki, and rightly so. But the one guy besides Dirk who probably deserves applaud is owner Mark Cuban, who has confirmed he is the coolest owner in sports since Eddie DeBartolo ruled San Francisco.
The Konformist isn't big on gushing over billionaires, and our position still is even the best owner is basically deadweight. But as far as deadweight billionaires go, Cuban is definitely a king of kings.
Haters say Cuban is obnoxious and arrogant. This is true. But he's the one owner who clearly is in sports not for the money but the love of sports. And two post-victory actions tell you what he is made of. One, he decided to cover the costs of the Maverick's victory parade rather than pawn it off to the cash-strapped metropolis. Two, perhaps more telling but less noticed, he left a $20K tip for the staff on a $90K bar tab on victory night. This was at a club in Miami, BTW, and not in Dallas.
Hopefully he will soon join the fraternities of owners in the NFL, MLB and NHL. Sports needs guys like him...
Mark Cuban will pay for your $110,000 bar tab. And your parade
Kelly Dwyer
Tue Jun 14, 2011
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Mark-Cuban-will-pay-for-your-110-000-bar-tab-A?urn=nba-wp4996
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The SEC by Mark Cuban
http://blogmaverick.com/2008/11/17/the-sec/
The SEC
Mark Cuban
Nov 17th 2008
I wish I could say more, but I will have to leave it to this, and let the judicial process do its job.
November 17, 2008
RE: SEC Civil Action in the United States District
for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division
Mark Cuban today responded to a civil complaint filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States District for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. In its complaint, the Commission charges that Mr. Cuban engaged in violations of the federal securities laws in connection with transactions in the securities of Mamma.com Inc.
This matter, which has been pending before the Commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the Commission’s claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its Enforcement Division.
Mr. Cuban stated, “I am disappointed that the Commission chose to bring this case based upon its Enforcement staff’s win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff’s process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government’s claims are false and they will be proven to be so.”
——————————
——————————
Ralph C. Ferrara, Esq.
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP
1101 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005
The SEC
Mark Cuban
Nov 17th 2008
I wish I could say more, but I will have to leave it to this, and let the judicial process do its job.
November 17, 2008
RE: SEC Civil Action in the United States District
for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division
Mark Cuban today responded to a civil complaint filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States District for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. In its complaint, the Commission charges that Mr. Cuban engaged in violations of the federal securities laws in connection with transactions in the securities of Mamma.com Inc.
This matter, which has been pending before the Commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the Commission’s claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its Enforcement Division.
Mr. Cuban stated, “I am disappointed that the Commission chose to bring this case based upon its Enforcement staff’s win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff’s process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government’s claims are false and they will be proven to be so.”
——————————
——————————
Ralph C. Ferrara, Esq.
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP
1101 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005
Uncle John "JT" Tully on Mark Cuban
11-18-8
Website: http://broadcatching.wordpress.com
Yesterday, Mark Cuban gets hit with the insider trading charge - the charge that eventually sent Martha Stewart to jail.
On October 17th, Cuban announced on his personal blog that he was starting a new website called Bailout Sleuth. From his blog, he says:
Quote:
Its job is simple, keep an eye on our taxpayer dollars and call Bullshit when necessary.
if you take a trip over to Bailoutsleuth you can see that its already time to call BS. In the first contract handed out, in this case to Bank of NY Mellon Corp, the compensation section is blacked out.
Sad. So very sad, that we couldnt make it a week without being afraid of the very taxpayers who are footing the tab for all of this.
Bailoutsleuth will try to publish every day in keeping up with how our taxdollars are spent and the people and companies that are impacted by this program. We are still a work in progress and look forward to your comments , feedback and tips.
Don't wonder why Cuban has the SEC knocking on his door.
Website: http://broadcatching.wordpress.com
Yesterday, Mark Cuban gets hit with the insider trading charge - the charge that eventually sent Martha Stewart to jail.
On October 17th, Cuban announced on his personal blog that he was starting a new website called Bailout Sleuth. From his blog, he says:
Quote:
Its job is simple, keep an eye on our taxpayer dollars and call Bullshit when necessary.
if you take a trip over to Bailoutsleuth you can see that its already time to call BS. In the first contract handed out, in this case to Bank of NY Mellon Corp, the compensation section is blacked out.
Sad. So very sad, that we couldnt make it a week without being afraid of the very taxpayers who are footing the tab for all of this.
Bailoutsleuth will try to publish every day in keeping up with how our taxdollars are spent and the people and companies that are impacted by this program. We are still a work in progress and look forward to your comments , feedback and tips.
Don't wonder why Cuban has the SEC knocking on his door.
Insider Trading, or Political Persecution?
http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/insider-trading-or-political-persecution/
November 17, 2008
Insider Trading, or Political Persecution?
By Floyd Norris
Did Mark Cuban, the Internet entrepreneur turned owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, and would-be buyer of the Chicago Cubs, violate insider trading laws in a particularly egregious fashion?
Or is he the victim of a political hit job because he helped finance a movie that was scathingly critical of President Bush?
Either way, the insider trading complaint from the Securities and Exchange Commission today arouses a lot more interest than most enforcement actions.
I’ll get to the facts of the complaint in a minute, but first here is Mr. Cuban’s reaction. His lawyers issued a statement saying:
This matter, which has been pending before the commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the commission’s claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its enforcement division.
Mr. Cuban stated, “I am disappointed that the commission chose to bring this case based upon its enforcement staff’s win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff’s process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government’s claims are false and they will be proven to be so.”
A person close to Mr. Cuban provided me with a copy of an e-mail message said to have been sent by Jeffrey Norris, an S.E.C. lawyer in the Fort Worth regional office (and no known relation to me.) This e-mail message seems to have been sent after an exchange in which Mr. Norris complained that Mr. Cuban had financed a movie called “Loose Change” that discusses the president’s actions relating to Sept. 11.
From: Norris, Jeffrey B. [mailto:NorrisJ@SEC.GOV]
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 2:27 PM
To: Mark Cuban
Cc: Cox, Christopher
Subject: RE: “Lose Change”
I AM SHARING THIS WITH CHAIRMAN COX. NEITHER HE NOR THE COMMISSION ENDORSE MY OPINIONS, BUT IN LIGHT OF YOUR THREAT, I THOUGHT SHOULD SEND THIS TO HIM.
Mark:
If this upsets you, I wonder how George Bush feels. I assume that Mr. Cox would view your involvement with “Loose Change” much as I do. After all, he served his country as a Republican Congressman from Orange County for nearly 20 years and was appointed by President Bush. If you feel like sharing my thoughts with Chairman Cox, be my guest.
Previously, I thought you were merely foolish and naïve. Now, however, I see that you are also a hypocrite. I guess your belief in free speech has severe limitations. If someone else is the victim of an absurd conspiracy theory, you defend your right to participate in smearing the good name of a patriot like President Bush. But, when you are the subject of a parody of the attack you have endorsed, you suddenly issue threats.
I think I will e-mail this to Chairman Cox myself. I think he will enjoy it. I’m sure he is also a Laker fan.
Since Chairman Cox may not know the background, I will explain. Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and has participated in distributing the vicious and absurd documentary, “Loose Change,” which posits that President Bush planned the demolition of the World Trade Center as a pretext for going to war against Iraq. We have had some past exchanges about my opinion the Mr. Cuban’s support for this project is irresponsible and immoral. Below, I parodied his position that every opinion, no matter how absurd and vicious, deserves to be broadly disseminated.
The copy sent to me does not include the previous parody.
John Nester, an S.E.C. spokesman, said this afternoon that the investigation was conducted by the S.E.C.’s Washington office, and that Mr. Norris was not involved in it. He added:
“Chairman Cox has never met the individual who corresponded with Mr. Cuban, nor has he spoken or corresponded with him in any way. After those communications came to light, the matter was referred for disciplinary action against the individual. To avoid any potential appearance issues, Chairman Cox recused himself from the Commission vote, and he has not been involved in this investigation at any time.”
The vote he refers to was the commission’s vote to file the case.
Mr. Norris has not returned a call left for him at his office.
Now for the facts of the insider trading case.
Mr. Cuban made a substantial profit from a quick trade in an Internet company that, oh-so-briefly, was a hot stock in 2004. It is not clear from public records just how much money he made, but even if the S.E.C. succeeds in its efforts to take about $750,000 in profits from him, he will still be one of the few public shareholders to rank as having made a lot of money from the company.
Mamma.com was, and is, an Internet search engine. In late February 2004, it was trading for around $4 a share. Then it announced earnings and announced new advertising features and the stock took off, aided by some stock tip sheets. (That trading brought on an S.E.C. investigation, which ended without charges being filed.)
The trading was crazy. A company with 10.5 million shares outstanding was trading more than 60 million shares a day while the stock ran up. There was heavy short-selling.
Mr. Cuban disclosed that he had acquired 600,000 shares, a 6.3 percent stake, by March 15, 2004. He did not disclose a purchase price or say when he had acquired the shares.
According to the S.E.C., on June 28, 2004, the company’s chief executive asked Mr. Cuban if he would like to participate in a planned new offering of the company’s stock. After being warned that he was receiving confidential information, Mr. Cuban is said to have expressed dismay about the offering. “At the end of the call, Cuban told the C.E.O. ‘Well, now I’m screwed. I can’t sell.’ ”
But a few minutes later he did sell 10,000 shares in after-hours trading. He sold the rest the next day. He took in $7.9 million, realizing an average of $13.24 per share. After the close on June 29, the offering was announced, and the stock opened the next day at $11.89. The S.E.C. figures that is a measure of his illicit gain.
Mamma.com is still around. In fact, I did all the searches connected to this blog using that search engine, and it performed quite adequately. But it has not prospered. The corporate name has changed to Copernic and the current stock price is 28 cents. At that price, Mr. Cuban’s former holding would be worth $168,000.
Mr. Cuban disclosed that sale, as required for a major holder. It is not clear what caused the S.E.C. to begin its investigation in early 2007, two and a half years after the sale. But if Mr. Cuban had waited to sell, he still would have gotten a very good price for the stock — at least from the perspective of 2008 — and the S.E.C. would have had no case.
As it is, there appears to be no question about when Mr. Cuban sold the stock. The S.E.C. cites phone company records and company memos about the timing and content of the call. If those memos were accurate, it appears that Mr. Cuban knew he had a duty not to sell until the information about the offering was made public.
But even if all that is true, the Norris e-mail, sent from an S.E.C. e-mail address, indicates the commission has a lawyer with, at best, very poor judgment.
November 17, 2008
Insider Trading, or Political Persecution?
By Floyd Norris
Did Mark Cuban, the Internet entrepreneur turned owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, and would-be buyer of the Chicago Cubs, violate insider trading laws in a particularly egregious fashion?
Or is he the victim of a political hit job because he helped finance a movie that was scathingly critical of President Bush?
Either way, the insider trading complaint from the Securities and Exchange Commission today arouses a lot more interest than most enforcement actions.
I’ll get to the facts of the complaint in a minute, but first here is Mr. Cuban’s reaction. His lawyers issued a statement saying:
This matter, which has been pending before the commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the commission’s claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its enforcement division.
Mr. Cuban stated, “I am disappointed that the commission chose to bring this case based upon its enforcement staff’s win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff’s process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government’s claims are false and they will be proven to be so.”
A person close to Mr. Cuban provided me with a copy of an e-mail message said to have been sent by Jeffrey Norris, an S.E.C. lawyer in the Fort Worth regional office (and no known relation to me.) This e-mail message seems to have been sent after an exchange in which Mr. Norris complained that Mr. Cuban had financed a movie called “Loose Change” that discusses the president’s actions relating to Sept. 11.
From: Norris, Jeffrey B. [mailto:NorrisJ@SEC.GOV]
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 2:27 PM
To: Mark Cuban
Cc: Cox, Christopher
Subject: RE: “Lose Change”
I AM SHARING THIS WITH CHAIRMAN COX. NEITHER HE NOR THE COMMISSION ENDORSE MY OPINIONS, BUT IN LIGHT OF YOUR THREAT, I THOUGHT SHOULD SEND THIS TO HIM.
Mark:
If this upsets you, I wonder how George Bush feels. I assume that Mr. Cox would view your involvement with “Loose Change” much as I do. After all, he served his country as a Republican Congressman from Orange County for nearly 20 years and was appointed by President Bush. If you feel like sharing my thoughts with Chairman Cox, be my guest.
Previously, I thought you were merely foolish and naïve. Now, however, I see that you are also a hypocrite. I guess your belief in free speech has severe limitations. If someone else is the victim of an absurd conspiracy theory, you defend your right to participate in smearing the good name of a patriot like President Bush. But, when you are the subject of a parody of the attack you have endorsed, you suddenly issue threats.
I think I will e-mail this to Chairman Cox myself. I think he will enjoy it. I’m sure he is also a Laker fan.
Since Chairman Cox may not know the background, I will explain. Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and has participated in distributing the vicious and absurd documentary, “Loose Change,” which posits that President Bush planned the demolition of the World Trade Center as a pretext for going to war against Iraq. We have had some past exchanges about my opinion the Mr. Cuban’s support for this project is irresponsible and immoral. Below, I parodied his position that every opinion, no matter how absurd and vicious, deserves to be broadly disseminated.
The copy sent to me does not include the previous parody.
John Nester, an S.E.C. spokesman, said this afternoon that the investigation was conducted by the S.E.C.’s Washington office, and that Mr. Norris was not involved in it. He added:
“Chairman Cox has never met the individual who corresponded with Mr. Cuban, nor has he spoken or corresponded with him in any way. After those communications came to light, the matter was referred for disciplinary action against the individual. To avoid any potential appearance issues, Chairman Cox recused himself from the Commission vote, and he has not been involved in this investigation at any time.”
The vote he refers to was the commission’s vote to file the case.
Mr. Norris has not returned a call left for him at his office.
Now for the facts of the insider trading case.
Mr. Cuban made a substantial profit from a quick trade in an Internet company that, oh-so-briefly, was a hot stock in 2004. It is not clear from public records just how much money he made, but even if the S.E.C. succeeds in its efforts to take about $750,000 in profits from him, he will still be one of the few public shareholders to rank as having made a lot of money from the company.
Mamma.com was, and is, an Internet search engine. In late February 2004, it was trading for around $4 a share. Then it announced earnings and announced new advertising features and the stock took off, aided by some stock tip sheets. (That trading brought on an S.E.C. investigation, which ended without charges being filed.)
The trading was crazy. A company with 10.5 million shares outstanding was trading more than 60 million shares a day while the stock ran up. There was heavy short-selling.
Mr. Cuban disclosed that he had acquired 600,000 shares, a 6.3 percent stake, by March 15, 2004. He did not disclose a purchase price or say when he had acquired the shares.
According to the S.E.C., on June 28, 2004, the company’s chief executive asked Mr. Cuban if he would like to participate in a planned new offering of the company’s stock. After being warned that he was receiving confidential information, Mr. Cuban is said to have expressed dismay about the offering. “At the end of the call, Cuban told the C.E.O. ‘Well, now I’m screwed. I can’t sell.’ ”
But a few minutes later he did sell 10,000 shares in after-hours trading. He sold the rest the next day. He took in $7.9 million, realizing an average of $13.24 per share. After the close on June 29, the offering was announced, and the stock opened the next day at $11.89. The S.E.C. figures that is a measure of his illicit gain.
Mamma.com is still around. In fact, I did all the searches connected to this blog using that search engine, and it performed quite adequately. But it has not prospered. The corporate name has changed to Copernic and the current stock price is 28 cents. At that price, Mr. Cuban’s former holding would be worth $168,000.
Mr. Cuban disclosed that sale, as required for a major holder. It is not clear what caused the S.E.C. to begin its investigation in early 2007, two and a half years after the sale. But if Mr. Cuban had waited to sell, he still would have gotten a very good price for the stock — at least from the perspective of 2008 — and the S.E.C. would have had no case.
As it is, there appears to be no question about when Mr. Cuban sold the stock. The S.E.C. cites phone company records and company memos about the timing and content of the call. If those memos were accurate, it appears that Mr. Cuban knew he had a duty not to sell until the information about the offering was made public.
But even if all that is true, the Norris e-mail, sent from an S.E.C. e-mail address, indicates the commission has a lawyer with, at best, very poor judgment.
SEC accuses Mavs owner Cuban of insider trading
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3708124
SEC accuses Mavs owner Cuban of insider trading
ESPN.com news services
November 18, 2008
Cuban Accused Of Insider Trading WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators have accused billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban of insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Cuban on Monday in federal court in Dallas. The agency said that in June 2004, Cuban was invited to get in on the coming stock offering by Mamma.com Inc. after he agreed to keep the information private.
The SEC said Cuban knew his stake -- pegged at 600,000 shares, or 6 percent ownership in the company -- would be sold below the current market price after learning that Mamma.com was raising money through a private investment in a public entity (also known as a PIPE).
A few hours after receiving the information, Cuban told his broker to sell all shares in the search engine company, according to the suit.
After the stock sale
In his own words, Mark Cuban mentioned Mamma.com in a March 2005 entry on his own blog, blogmaverick.com, explaining his decision to sell off his stock in the company.
Finally, and this has nothing to do with Naked Shorting, I wanted to reference Mamma.com. I had purchased stock in Mamma.com in hope that it could be an up and coming search engine. I thought I had done some level of due diligence. Talked to the company management. Talked to some employees who worked in sales. Read the SEC Filings. I knew that they had a checkered past and had been linked to stock promoter Irving Kott, and that their law firm still handled some of Kotts business, but the CEO, Chairman, lawyers all said that things were reformed and the company was focused on its business.
Then the company did a PIPE financing. Im not going to discuss the good or bad of PIPE financing other than to say that to me its a huge red flag and I dont want to own stock in companies that use this method of financing . Why? Because I dont like the idea of selling in a private placement, stock for less than the market price, and then to make matters worse, pushing the price lower with the issuance of warrants. So I sold the stock.
I bring all of this up now, because in one of the comments in the Naked Shorting thread, a poster mentioned Lines Overseas Management of Bermuda and how there had been allegations made against them . That rang a bell. Turns out this was the same company that Mamma.com's current CFO used for a private placement for Mamma.
I said at the top that I found out some interesting things in this thread, this was probably the most interesting. I will leave you to make your own decision as to whether this connection matters or not. Im glad I sold my stock.
The Commission is seeking to impose financial penalties and confiscate gains from the trades. It is up to the U.S. Attorney in Dallas to determine whether Cuban should face criminal charges.
"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," Scott W. Friestad, deputy director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a statement. "It is fundamentally unfair for someone to use access to nonpublic information to improperly gain an edge on the market."
According to the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Cuban, said, "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."
Clark also said he was "further shocked because the whole enforcement process was tainted by express bias by enforcement officials and certain other misconduct that we will happily detail to the judge in this case."
In a statement posted on Cuban's blog, blogmaverick.com, attorney Ralph C. Ferrara said Cuban would challenge the suit.
"This matter, which has been pending before the Commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion," Ferrara said. "Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the Commission's claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its Enforcement Division."
In the same statement, Cuban said, "I am disappointed that the Commission chose to bring this case based upon its Enforcement staff's win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff's process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government's claims are false and they will be proven to be so."
According to the SEC, the complaint seeks to permanently enjoin Cuban from future violations of the federal securities laws, disgorgement (with prejudgment interest), and a financial penalty.
"Insider trading cases are a high priority for the Commission," Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in the statement. "This case demonstrates yet again that the Commission will aggressively pursue illegal insider trading whenever it occurs."
Cuban's situation is drawing comparisons to Martha Stewart's involvement in insider trading in 2001. Stewart was also charged with obstruction for lying to FBI investigators. She was convicted in March 2004 on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements and was sentenced to prison.
Mamma.com, a Canadian company, merged with Copernic Technologies in December 2005. Copernic also offers search software and online advertising services. Mamma.com now trades under Copernic's ticker, CNIC.
The NBA had no comment.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Related Topics: NBA, Dallas Mavericks
SEC accuses Mavs owner Cuban of insider trading
ESPN.com news services
November 18, 2008
Cuban Accused Of Insider Trading WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators have accused billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban of insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Cuban on Monday in federal court in Dallas. The agency said that in June 2004, Cuban was invited to get in on the coming stock offering by Mamma.com Inc. after he agreed to keep the information private.
The SEC said Cuban knew his stake -- pegged at 600,000 shares, or 6 percent ownership in the company -- would be sold below the current market price after learning that Mamma.com was raising money through a private investment in a public entity (also known as a PIPE).
A few hours after receiving the information, Cuban told his broker to sell all shares in the search engine company, according to the suit.
After the stock sale
In his own words, Mark Cuban mentioned Mamma.com in a March 2005 entry on his own blog, blogmaverick.com, explaining his decision to sell off his stock in the company.
Finally, and this has nothing to do with Naked Shorting, I wanted to reference Mamma.com. I had purchased stock in Mamma.com in hope that it could be an up and coming search engine. I thought I had done some level of due diligence. Talked to the company management. Talked to some employees who worked in sales. Read the SEC Filings. I knew that they had a checkered past and had been linked to stock promoter Irving Kott, and that their law firm still handled some of Kotts business, but the CEO, Chairman, lawyers all said that things were reformed and the company was focused on its business.
Then the company did a PIPE financing. Im not going to discuss the good or bad of PIPE financing other than to say that to me its a huge red flag and I dont want to own stock in companies that use this method of financing . Why? Because I dont like the idea of selling in a private placement, stock for less than the market price, and then to make matters worse, pushing the price lower with the issuance of warrants. So I sold the stock.
I bring all of this up now, because in one of the comments in the Naked Shorting thread, a poster mentioned Lines Overseas Management of Bermuda and how there had been allegations made against them . That rang a bell. Turns out this was the same company that Mamma.com's current CFO used for a private placement for Mamma.
I said at the top that I found out some interesting things in this thread, this was probably the most interesting. I will leave you to make your own decision as to whether this connection matters or not. Im glad I sold my stock.
The Commission is seeking to impose financial penalties and confiscate gains from the trades. It is up to the U.S. Attorney in Dallas to determine whether Cuban should face criminal charges.
"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," Scott W. Friestad, deputy director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a statement. "It is fundamentally unfair for someone to use access to nonpublic information to improperly gain an edge on the market."
According to the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Cuban, said, "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."
Clark also said he was "further shocked because the whole enforcement process was tainted by express bias by enforcement officials and certain other misconduct that we will happily detail to the judge in this case."
In a statement posted on Cuban's blog, blogmaverick.com, attorney Ralph C. Ferrara said Cuban would challenge the suit.
"This matter, which has been pending before the Commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion," Ferrara said. "Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the Commission's claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its Enforcement Division."
In the same statement, Cuban said, "I am disappointed that the Commission chose to bring this case based upon its Enforcement staff's win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff's process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government's claims are false and they will be proven to be so."
According to the SEC, the complaint seeks to permanently enjoin Cuban from future violations of the federal securities laws, disgorgement (with prejudgment interest), and a financial penalty.
"Insider trading cases are a high priority for the Commission," Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in the statement. "This case demonstrates yet again that the Commission will aggressively pursue illegal insider trading whenever it occurs."
Cuban's situation is drawing comparisons to Martha Stewart's involvement in insider trading in 2001. Stewart was also charged with obstruction for lying to FBI investigators. She was convicted in March 2004 on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements and was sentenced to prison.
Mamma.com, a Canadian company, merged with Copernic Technologies in December 2005. Copernic also offers search software and online advertising services. Mamma.com now trades under Copernic's ticker, CNIC.
The NBA had no comment.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Related Topics: NBA, Dallas Mavericks
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Leave Josh Alone
Leave Josh Alone
By Dave Zirin
Dallas Mavericks All-Star Josh Howard has been raked over the coals of public opinion this week for daring to say what more than a few athletes think. He was caught on someone's cell phone camera saying that he doesn't stand for the national anthem because "I don't celebrate this [expletive]. I'm black." Judging by fan and media reaction, you would have thought he was barbecuing some bald eagle over a flaming pit of American flags. You would, given the peals of outrage, never know that there's been perhaps some more pressing news in the papers this week.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, to his eternal credit, has posted some of the anti-Howard emails he has received and they are the most vile, racist trash you could read outside a Klan chat room. (http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/18/thanks-for-the-advice-on-josh/).
Many of these courageous e-bigots actually attempt to link Howard’s mini-rant to the ascension of Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Their crude threats reflect a white fear as old as the United States itself: that no matter how much blood black Americans spill for this country, their loyalties are dual and divided. It's a fear that -- in a backhanded way -- acknowledges that since racism is still so prevalent in our society, the loyalties of the descendents of slaves must be suspect. But instead of confronting the reality of racism, the e-bigots among us instead lash out in both frightening and filthy fashion.
Well, count me out. Count me out as someone who will pile on Josh Howard. Howard is someone who said, during his 2004 senior year at Wake Forest University, that the war in Iraq "was all about oil." He then saw his draft stock plummet to the point where he was picked after no-talents like Reece Gaines and Ndudi Ebe. I saw one scout even call Howard a risky pick saying that, "Anti-war views may reflect rumored erratic behavior." Count me out as someone who thinks anti-war views are erratic.
Count me out of the fraternity of sports writers who under a kabuki pantomime of liberalism will "defend Howard's right to say what he wants" and then crush him for opening his mouth. Take J.A. Adande of ESPN.com. He starts his anti-Howard piece by writing, "What makes America the best country on the planet is that you are free to stand or sit for the national anthem, to sing along or to yell in anger at the government as much as you want without getting tossed in jail for your political beliefs." What claptrap. Someone needs to send Adande a copy of the Patriot Act. Or maybe he could ask the people who attempted to exercise their Constitutional rights to “yell in anger” at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN, only to be subject to "pre-emptive" raids and prison. Maybe he could ask the journalists who were beaten and arrested by police for attempting to report on it.
But then Adande continues:
"Howard, the Dallas Mavericks forward coming off a year in which he publicly admitted his penchant for smoking marijuana and defiantly partied away during the NBA playoffs, has a termite-ridden soapbox."
Yes, Howard admitted that he is an NBA player who smokes weed. Stop the presses. He also celebrated his own birthday after a playoff game. Adande must think it's a slippery slope: weed, birthday parties, treason. If Howard’s soapbox is “termite-ridden” then Adande’s platform is a house of cards.
This garbage is exactly why it's so hard to get athletes to open up about what they think. Reporters are seen as there to mock any ideas they have beyond "Drink Gatorade… and play one game at a time." Count me out of this smirking and all-too-condescending game of journalistic gotcha.
Count me out also as someone who thinks any critiques of the anthem are somehow off limits.
Count me instead as someone who has no clue why this is the only country in the world that feels to need to play the national anthem before sporting events. Count me as someone who believes that sports are beautiful but enforced nationalism before a captive audience is not. Count me as someone who resent the fact that we are raised to see sports and nationalism as inherently conjoined.
Count me as someone who will never criticize an athlete for resisting this ritual. A photo of Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists during the anthem adorns my wall. I have written in defense of people like Mahmoud Abdul Rauf, drummed out of the NBA for not standing during the anthem, and Toni Smith, the former Manhattanville College basketball player who turned her back on the flag in 2003 to protest "not just the war abroad but the injustices here at home." They were right to question the assumed permanence of this exceptionally American ritual.
Fusing the anthem with sports is a practice that was started in order to build patriotic fervor during World War II. When "the good war" ended and the permanent Cold War begun, it simply never left. It is supposed to represent freedom, but, as we see with Josh Howard, it's the freedom to do little more than smile in silence.
Well, count me out.
[Dave Zirin is the author of “A People’s History of Sports in the United States” (The New Press) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.]
By Dave Zirin
Dallas Mavericks All-Star Josh Howard has been raked over the coals of public opinion this week for daring to say what more than a few athletes think. He was caught on someone's cell phone camera saying that he doesn't stand for the national anthem because "I don't celebrate this [expletive]. I'm black." Judging by fan and media reaction, you would have thought he was barbecuing some bald eagle over a flaming pit of American flags. You would, given the peals of outrage, never know that there's been perhaps some more pressing news in the papers this week.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, to his eternal credit, has posted some of the anti-Howard emails he has received and they are the most vile, racist trash you could read outside a Klan chat room. (http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/18/thanks-for-the-advice-on-josh/).
Many of these courageous e-bigots actually attempt to link Howard’s mini-rant to the ascension of Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Their crude threats reflect a white fear as old as the United States itself: that no matter how much blood black Americans spill for this country, their loyalties are dual and divided. It's a fear that -- in a backhanded way -- acknowledges that since racism is still so prevalent in our society, the loyalties of the descendents of slaves must be suspect. But instead of confronting the reality of racism, the e-bigots among us instead lash out in both frightening and filthy fashion.
Well, count me out. Count me out as someone who will pile on Josh Howard. Howard is someone who said, during his 2004 senior year at Wake Forest University, that the war in Iraq "was all about oil." He then saw his draft stock plummet to the point where he was picked after no-talents like Reece Gaines and Ndudi Ebe. I saw one scout even call Howard a risky pick saying that, "Anti-war views may reflect rumored erratic behavior." Count me out as someone who thinks anti-war views are erratic.
Count me out of the fraternity of sports writers who under a kabuki pantomime of liberalism will "defend Howard's right to say what he wants" and then crush him for opening his mouth. Take J.A. Adande of ESPN.com. He starts his anti-Howard piece by writing, "What makes America the best country on the planet is that you are free to stand or sit for the national anthem, to sing along or to yell in anger at the government as much as you want without getting tossed in jail for your political beliefs." What claptrap. Someone needs to send Adande a copy of the Patriot Act. Or maybe he could ask the people who attempted to exercise their Constitutional rights to “yell in anger” at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN, only to be subject to "pre-emptive" raids and prison. Maybe he could ask the journalists who were beaten and arrested by police for attempting to report on it.
But then Adande continues:
"Howard, the Dallas Mavericks forward coming off a year in which he publicly admitted his penchant for smoking marijuana and defiantly partied away during the NBA playoffs, has a termite-ridden soapbox."
Yes, Howard admitted that he is an NBA player who smokes weed. Stop the presses. He also celebrated his own birthday after a playoff game. Adande must think it's a slippery slope: weed, birthday parties, treason. If Howard’s soapbox is “termite-ridden” then Adande’s platform is a house of cards.
This garbage is exactly why it's so hard to get athletes to open up about what they think. Reporters are seen as there to mock any ideas they have beyond "Drink Gatorade… and play one game at a time." Count me out of this smirking and all-too-condescending game of journalistic gotcha.
Count me out also as someone who thinks any critiques of the anthem are somehow off limits.
Count me instead as someone who has no clue why this is the only country in the world that feels to need to play the national anthem before sporting events. Count me as someone who believes that sports are beautiful but enforced nationalism before a captive audience is not. Count me as someone who resent the fact that we are raised to see sports and nationalism as inherently conjoined.
Count me as someone who will never criticize an athlete for resisting this ritual. A photo of Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists during the anthem adorns my wall. I have written in defense of people like Mahmoud Abdul Rauf, drummed out of the NBA for not standing during the anthem, and Toni Smith, the former Manhattanville College basketball player who turned her back on the flag in 2003 to protest "not just the war abroad but the injustices here at home." They were right to question the assumed permanence of this exceptionally American ritual.
Fusing the anthem with sports is a practice that was started in order to build patriotic fervor during World War II. When "the good war" ended and the permanent Cold War begun, it simply never left. It is supposed to represent freedom, but, as we see with Josh Howard, it's the freedom to do little more than smile in silence.
Well, count me out.
[Dave Zirin is the author of “A People’s History of Sports in the United States” (The New Press) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.]
Monday, July 16, 2007
Cuban taking an interest in the Chicago Cubs
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-cubs-cuban&prov=ap&type=lgns
Cuban taking an interest in the Chicago Cubs
July 13, 2007
CHICAGO (AP) -- Add internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to the list of potential Chicago Cubs buyers.
"I submitted an app," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Interested parties must submit an application to Major League Baseball to examine the team's finances. Cuban told the Chicago Tribune he sent in the application last week, although he wasn't sure of the date.
Tribune Co., which owns the team, announced in April it was selling itself for $8.2 billion to Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell, who made the deal contingent on shedding non-core assets. That means the Cubs will go on the auction block at the end of the season -- a decision Tribune chairman and CEO Dennis FitzSimons has conceded was difficult but one that "really makes sense for our shareholders."
Several potential deep-pocketed bidders are expected to vie for the Cubs and possibly for Wrigley Field, including Cuban and Chicago native Jerry Colangelo, the Phoenix Suns CEO who once ran the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Tribune, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday the family of Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.'s founder Joe Ricketts also was considering a bid. Ricketts family representatives declined to comment on the report when contacted by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Forbes magazine recently valued the National League Cubs at $592 million, fifth-highest in baseball, although experts speculate the bidding could start at $600 million.
On the Net:
Chicago Cubs: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com
Tribune Co.: http://www.tribjobs.com/index.html
Cuban taking an interest in the Chicago Cubs
July 13, 2007
CHICAGO (AP) -- Add internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to the list of potential Chicago Cubs buyers.
"I submitted an app," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Interested parties must submit an application to Major League Baseball to examine the team's finances. Cuban told the Chicago Tribune he sent in the application last week, although he wasn't sure of the date.
Tribune Co., which owns the team, announced in April it was selling itself for $8.2 billion to Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell, who made the deal contingent on shedding non-core assets. That means the Cubs will go on the auction block at the end of the season -- a decision Tribune chairman and CEO Dennis FitzSimons has conceded was difficult but one that "really makes sense for our shareholders."
Several potential deep-pocketed bidders are expected to vie for the Cubs and possibly for Wrigley Field, including Cuban and Chicago native Jerry Colangelo, the Phoenix Suns CEO who once ran the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Tribune, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday the family of Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.'s founder Joe Ricketts also was considering a bid. Ricketts family representatives declined to comment on the report when contacted by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Forbes magazine recently valued the National League Cubs at $592 million, fifth-highest in baseball, although experts speculate the bidding could start at $600 million.
On the Net:
Chicago Cubs: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com
Tribune Co.: http://www.tribjobs.com/index.html
Monday, June 11, 2007
Group eyes possibility of new football league
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-newfootballleague&prov=ap&type=lgns
Group eyes possibility of new football league
By DAVE GOLDBERG, AP Football Writer
May 30, 2007
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is part of a group considering formation of a football league that would compete with the NFL for players drafted lower than the second round.
The league, still very much in the preliminary stage, would play its games on Friday nights. The NFL does not play then because of the potential conflict with high school football.
"It's a pretty simple concept," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "We think there is more demand for pro football than supply."
The proposal was first disclosed by The New York Times on its Web site, which said it was the idea of Bill Hambrecht, a Wall Street investor who was a minority partner in the Oakland Invaders of the USFL, which played in the spring from 1983-85. Sharon Smith, a spokeswoman for Hambrecht and Company, had no comment and said Hambrecht was traveling and unavailable to talk about the idea.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said he was aware of the proposed league, but had no further comment.
There have been numerous leagues that have tried to compete with the NFL and a few that actually played games, starting with the AFL, which began in 1960 and fully merged with the NFL a decade later. It included such current franchises as New England, Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, Buffalo, the New York Jets and Denver.
More recently came the World Football League in the early 1970s, which raided the NFL for such stars as Larry Csonka. Then came the USFL, which played in the spring before folding after receiving only $3 in an antitrust "victory" over the NFL.
The USFL featured such future Hall of Famers as Jim Kelly, Reggie White and Steve Young, but lost millions of dollars trying to compete for players. It also had internal struggles among a majority of owners who wanted to stay in the spring, and the best known among them, Donald Trump, who wanted to move to the fall and try to force a merger with the NFL.
The most recent pro football league was the XFL, founded by the World Wrestling Federation and televised by NBC. The XFL lasted just three months in the spring of 2001 and was best known for a player named Rod Smart, called "He Hate Me," who later played as a return man and backup running back in the NFL.
So far, the proposed new league is in its infancy and Cuban is the only potential owner for what the founders hope will be an eight-team league.
Cuban said in his e-mail he believes the salary cap makes it easier to compete financially with the NFL because of the salary imbalance that leaves lower-level players with lower salaries. That would allow the new league to fill its rosters with players taken lower than the second round, as well as late NFL cuts and free agents who escape the NFL draft.
Many such players, including Tom Brady, a sixth-round pick of New England, have become NFL stars.
"That's not to say it will be easy. It won't," Cuban wrote. "We still have to cover quite a bit of ground and have a lot of milestones to hit. That said, if we can get the right owners I obviously think we can make this work."
Group eyes possibility of new football league
By DAVE GOLDBERG, AP Football Writer
May 30, 2007
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is part of a group considering formation of a football league that would compete with the NFL for players drafted lower than the second round.
The league, still very much in the preliminary stage, would play its games on Friday nights. The NFL does not play then because of the potential conflict with high school football.
"It's a pretty simple concept," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "We think there is more demand for pro football than supply."
The proposal was first disclosed by The New York Times on its Web site, which said it was the idea of Bill Hambrecht, a Wall Street investor who was a minority partner in the Oakland Invaders of the USFL, which played in the spring from 1983-85. Sharon Smith, a spokeswoman for Hambrecht and Company, had no comment and said Hambrecht was traveling and unavailable to talk about the idea.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said he was aware of the proposed league, but had no further comment.
There have been numerous leagues that have tried to compete with the NFL and a few that actually played games, starting with the AFL, which began in 1960 and fully merged with the NFL a decade later. It included such current franchises as New England, Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, Buffalo, the New York Jets and Denver.
More recently came the World Football League in the early 1970s, which raided the NFL for such stars as Larry Csonka. Then came the USFL, which played in the spring before folding after receiving only $3 in an antitrust "victory" over the NFL.
The USFL featured such future Hall of Famers as Jim Kelly, Reggie White and Steve Young, but lost millions of dollars trying to compete for players. It also had internal struggles among a majority of owners who wanted to stay in the spring, and the best known among them, Donald Trump, who wanted to move to the fall and try to force a merger with the NFL.
The most recent pro football league was the XFL, founded by the World Wrestling Federation and televised by NBC. The XFL lasted just three months in the spring of 2001 and was best known for a player named Rod Smart, called "He Hate Me," who later played as a return man and backup running back in the NFL.
So far, the proposed new league is in its infancy and Cuban is the only potential owner for what the founders hope will be an eight-team league.
Cuban said in his e-mail he believes the salary cap makes it easier to compete financially with the NFL because of the salary imbalance that leaves lower-level players with lower salaries. That would allow the new league to fill its rosters with players taken lower than the second round, as well as late NFL cuts and free agents who escape the NFL draft.
Many such players, including Tom Brady, a sixth-round pick of New England, have become NFL stars.
"That's not to say it will be easy. It won't," Cuban wrote. "We still have to cover quite a bit of ground and have a lot of milestones to hit. That said, if we can get the right owners I obviously think we can make this work."
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