SEC Hits Mark Cuban With Insider Trading Charges

According to the SEC, Cuban dumped 600,000 shares, or all of his 6.3% stake, in the search engine Mamma.com Inc., in June 2004 after learning about private financing that the company was proposing. By selling, he avoided losing $750,000, the SEC alleges.

The SEC is asking that the 50-year old Cuban, who made his fortune by selling media service Broadcast.com to Yahoo in 1999, be forced to give up the money plus interest and pay a penalty. Depending on how a court decides, those costs could add up to as much as $3 million, according to the SEC.