JUMP BALL!

With the start of the NBA season, Mark Cuban made the SEC an offer he thinks they shouldn't refuse - to bankroll a team of lawyers to help the SEC prepare its insider trading case against him.  The Internet billionaire is hoping to speed up the case, which SEC lawyers say could take 8 months to review.  That time frame would most certainly interfere with Mr. Cuban's full-time occupation and commitment - as owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks team. 

Attorney Stephen Best told the U.S. District Judge that his client, Mr. Cuban, was seeking a creative solution to shorten the time of the review.  SEC attorney, Melinda Hardy, told the court that the unprecedented offer had caused concern for the agency because it might send the message that people with “deep pockets would come in and go to the front of the line.”  Mr. Best responded, saying his client doesn't want to buy his way to the top - but simply is offering a remedy to the SEC's "lack of resources."

SEC v. Mark Cuban, a civil case filed in late 2008, accusing him of trading on confidential information when he sold his stake in a small Internet search company just before it announced news that caused its stock price to drop.  In July 2009, a federal judge in Dallas dismissed the case, ruling that the SEC had failed to prove that Mr. Cuban had, in receiving the confidential information, agreed not to sell his shares.  In September, a Federal Court of Appeals reinstated the SEC’s case.  [NYT Dealbook, 10/25]