DALLAS, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Texas billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Mavericks basketball team, was declared not guilty of insider trading in court Wednesday.
The nine jurors took three and a half hours to come up with their verdict, the Texas Lawbook reported.
The case revolved around Cuban's 600,000 shares of Mamma.com, which he sold in the summer of 2011 just before the company announced it would issue more shares, which would have diluted the value of Cuban's holdings.
The Securities and Exchange Commission contended that Cuban sold his shares after receiving a phone call from former chief executive officer of Mamma.com Guy Faure. During the phone call, Faure said in a taped deposition, Cuban acknowledged that he had just been given confidential information and knew he could not make trades based on that information.
Faure said that Cuban was angry during the phone call and said at one point, "Well, now I'm screwed. I can't sell."
The SEC said Cuban went ahead and unloaded his shares, anyway, avoiding about $750,000 in losses.
The Lawbook said the case, which took six years to prosecute, was likely the most expensive trial ever for the SEC.
