Cuban tempers talk after insider trading charge

NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made his fortune on the Internet, and made his name by sharing his blunt opinions, both courtside and online.

But after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged him with insider trading on Monday, he was more subdued.

"I wish I could say more, but I will have to leave it to this," Cuban, 50, wrote on his website, blogmaverick.com, the words of a man heeding the advice of his lawyers.

Then comes a flash of the fire he is known for: "I am disappointed that the commission chose to bring this case based upon its Enforcement staff's win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff's process was result-oriented, facts be damned."

The SEC said Cuban illegally traded shares of Canadian Internet search firm Mamma.com ahead of a public stock offering in 2004 to avoid more than $750.000 in losses. He said the case had no merit and he would contest the allegation.

Cuban, who grew up in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area, rose to prominence with a well-timed sale of the Broadcast.com website to Yahoo Inc for about $5 billion just before the dot-com crash.

With an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, he ranks as the 161st richest American on the Forbes 400 list. He occupies a far higher rank when it comes to being outspoken.

In 2006, Cuban let loose with a jab against online video website YouTube, telling a group of advertisers in New York that only a moron would buy it. Google Inc later bought YouTube for $1.65 billion.

His dancing skills have landed him on the television show "Dancing With the Stars" in 2007 though he did not win.

ULTIMATE SALESMAN

As owner of the National Basketball Association's Mavericks, Cuban has earned an ardent fan base but also fierce criticism. He bought his stake in the team and its home arena from former U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot Jr in January 2000 for $280 million, a record at the time for an NBA team.

Often wearing a team jersey and sitting among the fans, whooping and hollering along with them, Cuban turned a league doormat into a perennial contender, all the while amassing almost $1.7 million in fines for criticizing NBA referees.

In 2002, he was fined $500,000 for unloading at the referees and said of the NBA's head of officiating that he "might have been a great ref, but I wouldn't hire him to manage a Dairy Queen." Cuban later accepted an offer to serve desserts at a local Dairy Queen restaurant for a day.

"He's the ultimate salesman in a lot of ways," said Robert Boland, professor of sports management at New York University. "He's been perfect for the NBA, which needed somebody to pump excitement into the arena."

The SEC charge could hurt not only Cuban's reputation, but his chance of landing what would be among his biggest prizes yet -- the Chicago Cubs baseball team. He is among five known bidders on owner Tribune Co's short-list for the Cubs.

"I don't think Major League Baseball really wanted him in the club and now they have a reason to keep him out," Boland said.

While many Cubs fans would welcome Cuban because of the money he could spend on the team and Wrigley Field, his public statements have raised eyebrows.

Earlier this year, on a sports radio show, he said bidding on the Cubs was like trying to buy a prostitute. "It all comes down to price, right?"

Later, he said, "Aw, that's just going to get ripped apart, I know."

BLOG SUPPORT

Whatever sports fans might think about Cuban's brash remarks, most of the 190 comments on his blog on Monday offered support for him following the SEC charge.

Some claim that the government is hounding him for funding two websites -- sharesleuth.com and bailoutsleuth.com -- that employ reporters to expose "securities fraud and corporate chicanery" as well as how financial institutions use the bailout money they are set to get from the U.S. government.

Cuban finances journalism in other ways: he runs stories from ex-CBS newsman Dan Rather on HD.net, his web broadcasting service, and also helped fund the documentary "Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room," about the fall of the energy giant.

He is a stickler for accuracy, and sometimes insists on e-mail interviews with reporters so that he can prove later on his blog if his remarks were taken out of context in stories. He did not return Reuters requests for comment on Monday.

(Editing by Bernard Orr)