Mark Cuban , owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, told On the Money that he likely spent 10 times as much defending himself against insider-trading allegations as it would have cost to make the Mary Jo White charges go away.
Cuban’s estimate suggests the “Shark Tank” judge and businessman spent around $20 million to push back against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s accusations that he wrongfully sidestepped a $750,000 loss when he sold his stake in Internet company Mamma.com in 2004.
Including fines, the penalty for the alleged violation might have cost Cuban — who’s worth $2.5 billion — a mere $2 million, experts said.
“It wasn’t about the money,” said Cuban, who emerged victorious Wednesday in Dallas federal court. “For me, it was about doing the right thing.”
Indeed, Cuban has steadily denied the SEC’s key argument, that Mamma.com CEO Guy Fauré told Cuban he couldn’t sell his $7.9 million stake after discussing the company’s plans to raise money in a private stock offering that Cuban passed up.
And now he’s fired up about the SEC and is considering “taking steps in Washington” to make his concerns known.
“They’re not looking for justice, they’re looking to win,” he said of the watchdog.
Cuban also slammed the SEC’s new policy of cracking down on small violations to send a message to the wider culture. The so-called “broken windows” policy, popularized by former mayor Rudy Giuliani to describe his cleanup of New York City, will just lead to lawsuits against “a lot of little guys,” he said.