Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was acquitted of insider trading Wednesday after a jury deliberation that lasted only four hours, the AP reports.
The Security and Exchange Commission accused the billionaire of insider trading, claiming he illegally sold 600,000 shares of Canadian search engine mama.com in 2004 in order to avoid a $750,000 loss, NBC news reports. The SEC said that Cuban sold the shares based on on a confidential tip from the mama.com CEO about a future deal, but Cuban’s lawyers argued that the deal was already public knowledge. The defense claimed that a trading volume spike suggests that many other investors were also trading stock in mama.com based on this information.
If convicted, the regular on “Shark Tank” could have faced fines up to $25 million.
[NBC]
[AP]