Mark Cuban Acquitted

Toldja.

The SEC was barking up the wrong tree with this case, and a jury just let them know in no uncertain terms when they found Cuban not guilty on all insider trading charges. The trial took three weeks, but the jury only took four hours to return the verdict.

The SEC accused Cuban of using inside information to sell $7.9 million of stock in Mamma.com Inc. after he learned confidentially of a stock offering that would send the share price down. The agency wanted Cuban to repay $750,000 in losses that he avoided, plus pay a penalty. It was a civil lawsuit, so the basketball team owner and regular on the ABC reality show "Shark Tank" didn't face criminal charges.

Cuban testified that he never agreed to keep information about the stock deal private and told the company that he would sell his shares.

There have been some similarities drawn to the Martha Stewart case, and I can kinda see it. But where her case was more cut-and-dried insider trading, Cuban at least had plausible deniability that the stock he sold wasn't going to tank. The SEC obviously concurred, because they didn't even attempt criminal charges like Stewart faced.

Be that as it may, Cuban beat the rap and now the feds have egg on their face, which isn't a good thing. It'll make them more hesitant to try high profile cases (they should have picked a better one, frankly, and there's no shortage of better ones out there). I have to admit to tipping a glass to Cuban upon learning of his verdict. I knew it was going to go this way, and I like the guy's style.

Is anyone surprised to see this verdict?

 

No one should be surprised to see this verdict.

Cuban even stated in the video I posted about this yesterday that he spent more on his legal team than he would have on the fine he was going to have to face. //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/mark-cuban-cleared-of-inside-trading

What blows my mind is we live in a country where elected officials are still knowingly trading on insider tips and they face no repercussions; yet this country goes after a trail blazer like Mark Cuban that actually creates value and tries to help as many people as possible, and also arguably the last woman in the country still willing to cook and clean, in Martha Stewart.

You're born, you take shit. You get out in the world, you take more shit. You climb a little higher, you take less shit. Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what shit even looks like. Welcome to the layer cake, son.
 

Nice try, Mark Cuban.

You're born, you take shit. You get out in the world, you take more shit. You climb a little higher, you take less shit. Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what shit even looks like. Welcome to the layer cake, son.
 
Best Response
Nefarious-:

No one should be surprised to see this verdict.

Cuban even stated in the video I posted about this yesterday that he spent more on his legal team than he would have on the fine he was going to have to face. //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/mark-cuban-c...

What blows my mind is we live in a country where elected officials are still knowingly trading on insider tips and they face no repercussions; yet this country goes after a trail blazer like Mark Cuban that actually creates value and tries to help as many people as possible, and also arguably the last woman in the country still willing to cook and clean, in Martha Stewart.

Cough Harry Reid *Cough A lifetime public servant with a self-made net worth north of $10m. When questioned, he stated that he is an "excellent investor." Seems to me he should be in NYC getting his 2/20 lol

Please don't quote Patrick Bateman.
 

I wasn't surprised, and they picked a guy who I (and many of you probably) find myself rooting for.

I don't want the SEC to fail at their job, or lose cases against real criminals, but then they focus on crap like this. There are soooo many other a-holes they could go after. (And I'm still bitter that Corzine breathes.)

 
Edmundo Braverman:
It'll make them more hesitant to try high profile cases
....didn't the SEC just ass rape SAC for like a billion dollars? And JPM for a whole lot more?

In a weird way, this is the un-Martha Stewart case when put in context. When Enron blew out, the feds looked for a slam dunk case so they could say "see, we're doing our jobs" and nothing changed. The regulatory environment became a free for all and a few years later the entire system almost melted down because everyone was either looting it or too incompetent to run it.

Fast forward to Cuban, and he's basically the one high profile case that didn't work out for the feds lately. If history, or the inverse of it, is any indication then the regulatory environment is much tighter than it used to be. While plenty of folks will chaffe at the collar, the overall health of the financial system is actually being treated like it matters. Hopefully this leads to an expansion in the not too distant future when people fully regain their confidence that they're not going to be robbed...and start putting some of those record reserves to use. [cue TNA with anti tax rant]

Cuban did a good job of making a buck but I'm just not a fan. I have no idea why. Congrats though, I'm glad he's not going to jail because of a witch hunt and I'm more glad the SEC is finally doing it's fucking job.

Get busy living
 
UFOinsider:
Edmundo Braverman:

It'll make them more hesitant to try high profile cases

....didn't the SEC just ass rape SAC for like a billion dollars? And JPM for a whole lot more?

In a weird way, this is the un-Martha Stewart case when put in context. When Enron blew out, the feds looked for a slam dunk case so they could say "see, we're doing our jobs" and nothing changed. The regulatory environment became a free for all and a few years later the entire system almost melted down because everyone was either looting it or too incompetent to run it.

Fast forward to Cuban, and he's basically the one high profile case that didn't work out for the feds lately. If history, or the inverse of it, is any indication then the regulatory environment is much tighter than it used to be. While plenty of folks will chaffe at the collar, the overall health of the financial system is actually being treated like it matters. Hopefully this leads to an expansion in the not too distant future when people fully regain their confidence that they're not going to be robbed...and start putting some of those record reserves to use. [cue TNA with anti tax rant]

Cuban did a good job of making a buck but I'm just not a fan. I have no idea why. Congrats though, I'm glad he's not going to jail because of a witch hunt and I'm more glad the SEC is finally doing it's fucking job.

Not sure if serious... SEC ass rape SAC for 1 billion? You call that ass raping? If I were Cohen I would be on cloud 9 right now. Before all the redemptions this and last quarter, they had 14 B in AUM, 9 B of which is Cohen's. Since SAC is done as a marketable fund anyway, Cohen would just make the fund eat the penalty and then convert to a family office, as opposed to personally indemnifying the LPs for fines in normal cases. They will just mark the remainder of the gated redemption that hasn't gone out the door way down. What this means is the effective cost to Cohen pretax is 1B*9/14, that's 642mm, good for a post tax hit of 385mm.

385mm to settle all the legal troubles for someone worth 9.3B when he was potentially looking at time in pound-me-in-the-ass prison? That's a fucking steal.

 
bearcats:
UFOinsider:
Edmundo Braverman:

It'll make them more hesitant to try high profile cases

....didn't the SEC just ass rape SAC for like a billion dollars? And JPM for a whole lot more?

In a weird way, this is the un-Martha Stewart case when put in context. When Enron blew out, the feds looked for a slam dunk case so they could say "see, we're doing our jobs" and nothing changed. The regulatory environment became a free for all and a few years later the entire system almost melted down because everyone was either looting it or too incompetent to run it.

Fast forward to Cuban, and he's basically the one high profile case that didn't work out for the feds lately. If history, or the inverse of it, is any indication then the regulatory environment is much tighter than it used to be. While plenty of folks will chaffe at the collar, the overall health of the financial system is actually being treated like it matters. Hopefully this leads to an expansion in the not too distant future when people fully regain their confidence that they're not going to be robbed...and start putting some of those record reserves to use. [cue TNA with anti tax rant]

Cuban did a good job of making a buck but I'm just not a fan. I have no idea why. Congrats though, I'm glad he's not going to jail because of a witch hunt and I'm more glad the SEC is finally doing it's fucking job.

Not sure if serious... SEC ass rape SAC for 1 billion? You call that ass raping? If I were Cohen I would be on cloud 9 right now. Before all the redemptions this and last quarter, they had 14 B in AUM, 9 B of which is Cohen's. Since SAC is done as a marketable fund anyway, Cohen would just make the fund eat the penalty and then convert to a family office, as opposed to personally indemnifying the LPs for fines in normal cases. They will just mark the remainder of the gated redemption that hasn't gone out the door way down. What this means is the effective cost to Cohen pretax is 1B*9/14, that's 642mm, good for a post tax hit of 385mm.

385mm to settle all the legal troubles for someone worth 9.3B when he was potentially looking at time in pound-me-in-the-ass prison? That's a fucking steal.

Point taken, but even in this case we're still looking at a $1BB fine as a deal? I'm pretty sure that any amount of money is worth not going to prison, so again, I see your point. It just seems that each round of fines breaks some record, and now we've crossed the billion dollar rubicon.

Most fines in past eras were token amounts that wouldn't even be a slice on the pie chart, so I do think you're rationalizing this a bit far. To put things in context, John Gotti beat multiple jail raps for far less percentages of his personal net worth, and I do think it was far more obvious that there was wrongdoing on his part than Cohen. In Cuban's case, my guess is that he spent more defeating the charges than it would have cost him in fines because the SEC singled him out, and I wonder if he's going to sue them for damages...again, just to make a point.

The SEC settled with Cohen because I don't think they could conclusively prove that he ran insider trading schemes. I think the worst case scenario would have been to shut him down completely on the more proveable case of grossly negligent management, and bar him from the industry. If paying a billion dollars and having to go family fund is a deal, we're still looking at far more severe punishments than I can remember seeing in my lifetime.

That said, if I had the option of having Cohen manage my money (and I don't) I'd totally do it. I'd like to think that Cohen will bounce back stronger than ever from this. I am a huge fan of his.

Get busy living
 
BTbanker:

I'm all for that Cuban 2016 comment.

Shit I'd vote for the guy.

You're born, you take shit. You get out in the world, you take more shit. You climb a little higher, you take less shit. Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what shit even looks like. Welcome to the layer cake, son.
 

A very knowledgeable and savvy guy. Had the privilege of shaking his hand when he came to speak at my school. Before shaking my hand, he looked at me and said, "Awesome t-shirt." Of course, it was a Dirk tee.

Go Mavs!

 

seriously..sold off 600,000 shares in mamma.com prior to the stock offering.

really bro? like that wasn't obvious. guess ur not a true maverick after all.

o well..what is the punishment now, 6-12 months in prison, 3 months house arrest, and a $500,000 fine?

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 

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