The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has appealed the dismissal of an insider trading lawsuit filed against billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team.
The SEC filed notice on Wednesday with the US District Court in Dallas, which dismissed the case on July 17, informing the court of plans to challenge the ruling in a New Orleans appeal court.
US District Judge Sidney Fitzwater granted Cuban’s motion to dismiss the case, but gave the SEC time to file an amended complaint.
The SEC decided instead to appeal to a higher court.
The 51-year-old Texas business tycoon was alleged to have sold 600,000 shares of stock from Internet search engine company Mamma.com Inc in 2004 after receiving confidential information about a private offering.
The SEC alleged in its civil suit that Cuban avoided a loss of US$750,000 by selling his stake in the company.
Fitzwater wrote in his ruling that the SEC didn’t accuse Cuban of promising not to trade based on the confidential information he received. Therefore the commission couldn’t hold him liable for illegal insider trading.
Cuban made his money through Internet and technology companies and in 2000 purchased the Mavericks, becoming an outspoken critic of some aspects of the league and billing himself as his team’s top fan.
In related news, NBA commissioner David Stern said on Thursday that the NBA envisions having franchise teams in European cities, although there was no timetable for the move.
Stern was speaking in Taipei ahead of the first ever NBA exhibition game in the country, in which the Indiana Pacers topped the Denver Nuggets 126-104.
“There’s some good possibility over the course of many years, that if there’s appropriate arena development in Europe, there could be actual NBA franchises in Europe,” he said. “That’s the way we see the development of basketball in the world.”
Earlier this week, Stern said the league was planning a regular-season game in London sometime before the 2012 Olympics.
The only regular NBA games ever staged outside North America were in Japan in the early 1990s.
The NBA also sees affiliated leagues in other continents.
“The model in Asia, probably in Latin America, possibly in Africa will lead us — if there’s adequate arena development — to having NBA affiliated leagues, with partners in local basketball federations,” Stern said.
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