They could try and make an example out of him purely for show purposes. Most banking execs appear to be getting away with (financial) murder, but Mark Cuban isn't juiced in with government like the bankers are. He may take a hit so the feds can make us, the unwashed masses, believe that even the billionaires will be held accountable.
If found liable (this is a civil action), at least it will be easy to articulate exactly what if anything he did wrong. Can you say that about the banking execs?
The SEC doesn't avoid people who are "juiced in" to the government. It prosecutes cases it can win. Bankers spend a lot of time figuring out where the line is and staying on the right side of it. To the extent they do anything wrong, prosecuting them involves getting a jury to understand reserve ratios and risk models and other things they won't understand. But insider trading is easy to understand. He had this insider information, and did this trade that saved him $750k. I can explain that to grandma. Its easy. Which is why bankers don't get caught doing it, but less plugged in people do.
Note I'm not saying he did anything wrong. What I mean is that if he did, it'll be easy to explain what it was he did wrong. It won't be something like "he should have classified these tax credits under this accounting rule you don't understand instead of this other accounting rule you don't understand."
My bad. I did not mean to imply you said he did anything wrong. What I meant was that if it is a gray area, even if he did do something wrong, it might not be so easy to explain it to grandma either.
I'm pretty sure they're already trying to make an example out of him for show. If I remember correctly, this first popped up right after Cuban announced BailouthSleuth.com
He's not only less connected, but a loudmouth, too. You can't have people just piping off, saying whatever they want.. what kind of example does that set?
I understand the desire to cheer for the loudmouth. I'm certainly rooting for him. But the real world is like high school. We're judged by our peers. If you're a loudmouth, you had better be extra careful because your peers won't give you the benefit of the doubt. This is a rule of the physics of society.
