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Billionaire Mark Cuban wins SEC insider-trading case, calls lead trial lawyer for agency 'a bully'

A high-profile insider-trading case against the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks has ended badly for the government.

A federal jury in Dallas deliberated for less than a day before finding Mark Cuban not liable in the civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg reports.

He had been accused of selling shares in Mamma.com after learning from the Internet search engine’s CEO about a private stock offering that would have lessened the value of Cuban’s majority stake in the company.

The SEC said Cuban promised to keep the information confidential. He said he didn’t, plus, he contended, the information was not material.

The case reportedly went to trial because Cuban wanted vindication, and he got it.

“I said I wouldn’t be bullied. She tried to be a bully,” he said of attorney Jan Folena, the lead trial lawyer for the SEC. “They weren’t trying to use facts to convince the jury, they were trying to deceive the jury.”

Folena, who left the courthouse a short time earlier, told the Associated Press: “We believe we did the best we could in this case, and things turn out the way they turn out.”

See also:

ABAJournal.com: “Billionaire Mark Cuban seeks vindication in insider-trading trial that starts today”