Espn is reporting that Mark Cuban has been accused by the SEC for Insider Trading of the stock Mamma.com.  What is interesting is that the SEC has only filed a civil suit against Cuban and not criminally charged him.  ESPN also provided this PDF of the full complaint by the SEC.

If you actually read the complaint it is quite interesting.  On June 28th 2004 Mark recieved a call from the CEO saying that he had private information that he would like to share with Mark since he was an approximately 6.3% owner in the company.  Mark said go ahead and the CEO proceeded to tell him that they would be raising a new round of funding called a  PIPE (Private Investment of Public Equity) and he wanted to now if Mark would be interested in investing.  Mark said he would not invest and basically “flew off the handle” because PIPE’s dilute current investor holdings.  At the end of the call the CEO said Mark said “well now I am screwed, I can’t sell.”  If Mark really said this, then he was referring to the fact that he would be trading on insider information.

After this call Mark still proceeded to sell his full share in the company that day after hours and the next day.  That night the PIPE was announced and the stock went down.

What is really interesing about this is whether Mark could actually do jail time for this if found guilty.  No actual criminal charges have been issued though.  Based on the information in front of us this is really sad to hear.  We are big fans of Cuban and for a billionaire to do something like this to save a few 100k is very disappointing.

Mark posted this on his blog at Blog Maverick:

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.”

Posted in NBA 1 Comment Tags: mark cuban

Over at La Ball Talk, A Los Angeles Lakers Blog, they have contest going on to pick the top NBA blogs for each team.  Go over and vote for your favorite NBA Blog.  LA Ball Talk is an NBA blog that is a part of SportsBlogNet.

Good morning sports fans! Here’s a scan of the Sports Blog Net world, starting with baseball:

• The Philadelphia Phillies have regained the lead in the National League East with a 8-7 win over Atlanta, and a 1-0 win by Washington over the New York Mets, much to the displeasure of The ‘Ropolitans, and 3B David Wright (see photo).

• The Mets appear likely to take their Triple-A farm club to Buffalo, and I have all the details at Sports Night.

• Derek Jeter’s record breaking hit at Yankee Stadium didn’t go unnoticed by Scott Proctor’s Arm.

• Sports of Boston takes a look at the GM Theo Epstein’s multi-year extension.

• Twins Fix addresses the naming rights to Minnesota’s new stadium.

And of course the rest of sports happenings:

• Will Oakland’s Lane Kiffin make the trip to Buffalo? Raiders Voice has an opinion.

• Randall Cobb’s injury could change Kentucky’s season, according to UK Wildcat Country.

• Jets Daily blogs about the release of P Ben Graham and a recap of Gang Green’s loss to the Patriots.

• Washington’s big win over the Saints still leaves some questions as Skins Talk provides the details.

• Could the Chicago Bulls be working on a trade? Docksquad Sports has the latest.

• Hockey is on the horizon, and Faceoff Factor has the Pittsburgh Penguins’ camp coverage.

• Want to take your kids to a great show? Family entertainment is the focus of Friends of the Program.

My name is Howie, and I blog all the sports I care about at Sports Night with Howie Mansfield. You can reach me via e-mail at howiemansfield [at] gmail [dot] com.

It amazes me in this day andn age that athletes think they can lie about their injury and get away with it.  Who knows, maybe it happens all the time but team doctors are pretty smart and they know how certain injuries can and can’t happen. The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Monta Ellis has admitted to the Warriors that his injury did not happen during a basketball related activity.  However, he has still not admitted to the press how  the injury happened.

Back when this injury first happened, we speculated why the press did not report exactly what happened to Monta Ellis.  We figured there was something fishy going on since no one new and we also came out with our top 10 ways Monta got hurt.  Hopefully Monta comes back healthy and better then ever in 3 months and this is all forgotten.  If he comes back and proves to be ineffective, this will be by far the biggest mistake of his career.

Seems like former Jayhawks stars Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur forgot they were no longer in college when they brought some ganja with them to NBA rookie camp.  The two were caught with some marijuana in their hotel room and sent packing.  Both will be fined $20,000 and will be suspended to start the season. From ESPN:

The players were caught by NBA security at the Doral Arrowwood resort in Rye Brook, N.Y., where 69 of the league’s rookies arrived last night for the four-day seminar in which coaches, referees and former players speak about adapting to the league.

Nothing like toking up on the first night of your new job and getting caught….nice work kids.

The other day we wondered about how Monta Ellis injured himself.  Well, it looks like the Golden State Warriors have sent a forensic team to Monta Ellis’ hometown because they are not satisfied with the way he said he hurt himself.  Here at Union we decided to come up with the Top 10 ways Monta hurt himself

1. Riding a motorcycle: We all remember a former Bay Area Athlete, Jeff Kent, really hurt himself riding a motorcycle and not washing his car
2. Reading: Hey, reading in the dark is tough sometimes
3. Brushing his teeth: Electric toothbrushes can take on a life of their own
   
4. Catching Alligators: A Southerners favorite pass time
5. A dunk contest with his boys from Mississippi: You know this has to be going on everyday
6. Running on a treadmill: All I need to say  \is Moises Alou.  Google Moises Alou and treadmill if you need to know
7. Taking a corner too fast and flying off his swamp Boat: Swamp Boats are awesome.  They got Adam Sandler, AKA Waterboy, to the 2nd half of his championship game on time
8. Washing his car: See number 1
9. Doing “The moonwalk”: There is no way Monta doesn’t like Michael Jackson
10. Wrestling with one of his 300 pound friends: Doesn’t everyone have a 300 pound friend in Mississippi

For those of you that don’t know, Monta Ellis is out 3-4 months because he supposedly severly sprained his ankle at an off season workout in his hometown.  According to this report he sprained his ankle and tore a deltoid ligament.

Normally when news like this comes out, the media is informed how the injury happened but I can’t find one news article that says what happened.  To me it seems one of two things occured.  The first is that Monta’s injury happened while doing something else and he is lying about doing it in some stupid way or the second is that he just injured himself in some stupid way.

Here are some of the dumbest sports injuries of all time.  Lets hope he injured him self playing basketball and not playing the Guitar Hero like Joel Zumaya.  HA

Either way the Warriors are now screwed to start the season.  No Baron and now no Monta.  I guess it will be up to Steven Jackson to carry the team.

 Tips, good articles, anything good.  Send them to joe{a}sportsblognet dot com