Lisa Guerrero: Who's your mama now, Mark Cuban?

With the news this morning that Mavericks owner/entrepreneur/"Dancing With the Stars" reject Mark Cuban is being charged with insider trading of his stock from Momma.com Inc., I had to giggle.

But, first, here is his response, which was posted on his blog at 1:20 p.m. EST:

I am disappointed that the Commission chose to bring this case based upon its enforcement staff's win-at-all-cost ambitions. The staff's process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government's claims are false and they will be proven to be so.

As you might recall, much has been made recently of Cuban’s interest in buying the Chicago Cubs. Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun Times squelched that idea on Nov. 7 when he reported that “ ... baseball’s old guard plans to stand firm against letting Cuban into the club."

"There’s no way Bud [Selig] and the owners are going to let that happen," a Major League Baseball source said this week. "Zero chance."

This prompted a response from Mike James of The Times, who wrote on the Fabulous Forum last week that "there’s little doubt that he’s the kind of individual who would be good for baseball. Not simply good, he’s the kind of owner baseball needs. ... "

Um, not so much.

Even more hilarious is the fact that just last Thursday, Cuban wrote a blog at The Huffington Post called "President-Elect Obama’s First Big Mistake," which criticizes the next prez for assembling an economic advisory team that has "a lot of great minds" but "not a single entrepreneur."

Guess he was lobbying for a position. And, apparently, he doesn’t think Warren Buffett, a member of the advisory board, counts.

Needless to say, this morning’s news of Cuban’s Missive Crisis has the blogosphere in a tizzy. Here are a couple of responses at the Huffington Post from readers who didn’t dig his blog last week and apparently are getting their shots in today.

Scorpioleidy writes: “He should go to jail – same as Martha [Stewart] did!!! You did the crime, now you do the time wonder boy!!! Wonder if HuffPo will let him continue to write editorials for them while he’s in jail???”

Johnnygoodwud writes: “New gig; Dancing With the Inmates.”

Bowling for Revenge says: "If Mark Cuban is found guilty and doesn’t serve time, ala Martha Stewart,  justice isn’t blind, it’s sexist … $8,000 is all that sent Martha to jail, of course, it cost our fine government over 1 million dollars to prosecute her.”

And finally, ManUnitFan wonders: “Does this mean he won’t be buying my Cubs, now?”

Guess those MLB owners might know what they’re doing after all.

-- Lisa Guerrero

Lisa Guerrero has covered Super Bowls, the NBA Finals and the World Series, along with the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys. As an actress, she has appeared on "Frasier" and "The George Lopez Show" and as Billy Baldwin's long-suffering wife in the film "A Plumm Summer," which she executive-produced.

Photo at top: Mark Cuban during a postseason game in Miami in 2006. Credit: Rhona Wise / EPA

Comments

[Brian Cuban]

Lisa-the fact that you choose to use quotes from people who clearly do not know the difference between a civil and criminal proceeding only drives home the point that the only crime here is your impersonation of a journalist.

Brian Cuban

[Lisa Guerrero]

Dear Mark Cuban's brother,
Taking personal potshots at me seems rather ridiculous when it seems that you, as a lawyer and the brother of a man charged with insider trading, probably have some bigger fish to fry. I see you've been trolling around the internet trying to spin this story wherever you can.
Guess it's just a bad season for Mavericks.
Nevertheless, point taken about using quotes from the uninformed masses who comment on message boards...kinda' like you did on this post.
Have a nice day!
Lisa Guerrero

[Mike]

Martha was charged and found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators. Very different than what Mark is being accused of.

[keen observer]

Martha. Stewart is of no relevance to the illegal insider trading charges on Mark Cuban. She was never involved in any illegal insider trading. She had NO insider information. To save her company that the SEC wanted to destroy, she settled and agreed to none of their bogus allegations. It is about time the reckless and irresponsible media quit the media bashing on her with misinformation, misrepresentation, and agency propaganda.

[WC]

Having recently moved from Dallas after 8 years there I know how popular an owner Mark Cuban is with the Mavericks fans. However, I wonder if his often justified attacks on the referees doesn't actually hurt the team, especially when they get into the rough-n-tumble playoffs. A cry-baby attitude gets you nowhere at that point, thus their poor showing. This will be interesting. Cuban can't seem to help himself when he often crosses the line with the league and incurs those big fines. Will he try the same approach with the Feds? Meanwhile, the Mavs have been stinking up the place.

[Anthony Wong]

Wait a minute! the guy can’t have second thoughts about a search engine named Mama.com and “bailout out on it” but the federal government can “bailout” the banker buddies and the investments they have.

[Grant Williams]

To quote a forgotten source: "It's all insider trading, it's only a matter of how close to the inside you are."

Mr. Cuban, through his previous financial success - and thus his ability to become a significant investor - earned his ability to be privy to certain information before other investors are. Yes, acknowledging this truth would undermine the SEC's goal of achieving the unachievable goal of a moratorium on exceptional brains and ability, but doing so is the only road to justice.

Any and all insider trading charges brought against Mr. Cuban should be dropped, and the laws they were derived from should be immediately abolished.

[Jordan Blaydes]

Lisa,
It's interesting how many people seem to drool at the prospect of Mark Cuban getting "owned" on anything, whether it be though this issue or another. Strip away what you see at a Mavericks game and you will see a savvy, competent, interesting business man, one to be admired. He has a channel with arguably the best show on television (Dan Rather Reports). He is changing the way movies are marketed, and has been doing so since Soderbergh's Bubble. The 3-D technology he has been showing will change the way people watch movies. His Shareslueth.com is a watchdog for businesses. Some people might question his intent to distribute "Loose Change", but the film raises interesting questions, even if the substance is lacking. And, oh yeah, he owns the Mavericks and wants to own the Cubs. I'm sure there's other areas more of interest than a telephone conversation that may or not prove insider trading. More will be revealed.

In the meantime, Brian Cuban's comment is no less applicable here just because he's Cuban's brother.

Get some facts and try again. This reminds of when the FCC went after Howard Stern.

[Sean]

Cuban and his defenders are convinced that 'The Government Is Out To Get Him'. There would be nothing to 'Get Him' on if he hadn't been cheating the system, allegedly.

Let's revisit, shall we?

The CEO of Mamma.com calls Cuban with confidential information that Mamma.com is going to sell additional stock to private investors & offers that stock to Cuban at a discount as one of those private investors.

Within 48 hours Cuban dumps his 6% share in Mamma.com. He sells for $750,000 MORE than the stock is worth once the sale is publicly announced. SOMEONE PAID HIM $750,000 MORE THAN HIS STOCK WAS WORTH.

He had insider, non-public, privileged information and he acted on it. That is against the law, and it doesn't matter if the SEC doesn't like him personally or not.

He should stop whining and go back to losing basketball games.

Now he's whining about it.

[Brent Derington]

every body has a power play,but there is a greater power than the sec. a power greater than all the nuclear bombs and the B2 stealths that deliver them. and it is destroying this country without even a fight. this power is called,......DIVORCE.