WASHINGTON - Federal regulators on Monday charged Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses.

Cuban disputed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s allegations and said he would contest them.

In a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Dallas, the SEC alleged that in June 2004, Cuban was invited to get in on the coming stock offering by Mamma.com Inc. after he agreed to keep the information private...

... The SEC is seeking a court judgment against Cuban finding that he violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, an injunction against future violations, an unspecified civil penalty and restitution of the losses Cuban allegedly avoided.

While the stock offering in question occurred more than four years ago, the SEC didn’t learn about the specifics of the case until early 2007, according to agency attorneys....

Degenhardt said the SEC has been looking to make an example out of someone involved in a case just like this — a so-called private placement in public equity offering, which is known as a PIPE. He’s curious to see whether they picked the right one.

The reason I mentioned Martha is because the genre of the offense is the same: insider trading. Plus, I didn't want to entitle the thread "Move over Henry", but the similarity is there. The comment by the former securities fraud prosecutor made the connection for me.

Different offense (PIPE vs. illegal stock options), but same purpose behind the Feds pursuit of it: making a public example out of a public figure. In this sense, Cuban and Samueli would be in the same boat.