Yesterday, a federal jury took just three and a half hours to conclude that Mark Cuban did not violate insider trading laws when he sold stock in Mamma.com in June 2004. Following the verdict, Cuban conducted a brief Q&A session with reporters in which he offered his opinion on several aspects of the case and the SEC's decision to pursue it against him. 

Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, said that he didn't feel like he had really "won" anything, despite the favorable verdict. Cuban said that while there were plenty of great people at the SEC and he did not want to generalize the people at the government, he considered the case against him to be a "horrific" example of government action. He was fortunate, he said, to be in a position  where he could afford to stand up to, and not be bullied by, the case against him. Cuban said he ultimately paid far more in legal fees than he would have had he lost the case and had to pay a fine. 

Cuban also mentioned SEC Chair Mary Jo White's October 9 speech at Securities Enforcement Forum 2013 in which she compared her enforcement approach to the “Broken Windows” strategy that was employed in the 1990s in New York. Under that strategy, law enforcement attempts to pursue all infractions, no matter how small, to avoid an environment of disorder and to send a message of law and order. 

Cuban said Chair White "needs to think things through" because he said that unlike breaking a window, which is clearly illegal, there are no bright lines when it comes to the securities laws. Cuban said that there is typically no way to get clarification on what is, or is not, illegal when it comes to things like insider trading, and the SEC regulates through litigation.

Check out Cuban's full post-verdict meeting with reporters here:

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