Immediately following his October 2013 victory over the SEC in the trial of his insider trading case, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban curiously said that he "didn't win anything today-- I just got started today."  Since then, Cuban has had plenty to say about the SEC, and has even announced plans for a side venture that collects and publishes SEC trial transcripts highlighting tactics he considers suspect.

Today, Cuban traveled to Washington, D.C. (on the NBA's trade deadline, no less) and devoted a morning to further discuss his strong feelings about the work of the SEC--and specifically his personal experience and observations. Cuban was the featured guest at an event this morning ("SEC Enforcement: Assessing the Agency's Policies and Practices") that was organized by law firm Cooley LLP. Cooley's Lyle Roberts, who represented Cuban during the seven years his SEC case took to get to trial, moderated a one-on-one Q&A session with Cuban. Cuban discussed how the case impacted him, and shared his opinions on the SEC's enforcement efforts from the perspective of a recent defendant.

Cuban said that his lengthy insider trading case was a "brutal" experience and something that was all-consuming for him (although he joked that his Mavericks winning the NBA championship in 2011 helped keep his spirits up). As the result of his experience as an SEC defendant, he has changed some of his practices as an investor and businessman. He no longer will meet with the CEOs of companies he owns more than a 5% interest in, for example. Cuban also said he now strives to leave a "zero footprint," as he fears documents like emails can be easily misconstrued or taken out of context. Accordingly, he doesn't save his emails any longer, and uses a "disappearing email app" that leaves no record of his email traffic.

Cuban repeated a criticism that he also made from the courthouse steps in October following his victory at trial: that the securities laws, including the insider trading laws, are ineffective because the public often has no idea what is legal and what is illegal. How can a "Broken Windows" strategy work for the SEC, has asked, if people don't even know what a broken window is in the securities law context? 

Cuban said that he would be in favor of a federal insider trading statute that would specifically define what was legal and what was not--assuming, he said, that insider trading needed to be declared against the law in the first place. At a minimum, Cuban said, the SEC's focus on insider trading was a misplaced priority. In support of this view, Cuban pointed to the trillions of dollars invested in overseas equities, and observed that investors do not seem to care at all that insider trading enforcement in these overseas markets is either weak or nonexistent. 

Cuban also criticized the SEC for consistently announcing its successful trial results, but very selectively announcing its losses at trial. Although the agency did issue a Litigation Release when it lost the Cuban trial, Cuban noted that this seemed to be a rare exception and that justice required the SEC to announce both its victories and losses.