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Judge won't dismiss insider-trading suit against Mark Cuban

The court schedules a June trial for the tech mogul and Dallas Mavericks' owner, accused of using confidential information.

Donna Tam Staff Writer / News
Donna Tam covers Amazon and other fun stuff for CNET News. She is a San Francisco native who enjoys feasting, merrymaking, checking her Gmail and reading her Kindle.
Donna Tam
Mark Cuban at CNET's Next Big Thing panel at CES 2013.
Mark Cuban at CNET's Next Big Thing panel at CES 2013. Josh Miller/CNET

A Federal judge decided today that a five-year-old lawsuit accusing tech mogul Mark Cuban of insider-trading is going to trial, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit in 2008 against Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and former Yahoo and Broadcast.com executive, for allegedly relying on confidential information when he sold his stake in search engine Mamma.com and avoided a $750,000 loss.

Cuban has stated in the past that he has done nothing wrong, saying, "The government's claims are false and they will be proven to be so."

Judge Sidney Fitzwater denied Cuban's request to dismiss the suit and has scheduled the trial for June.

The SEC said Cuban sold his Mamma.com stake after learning the company was about to issue new shares in a private offering, news that often leads to stock prices plummeting.

Cuban's layers have argued that the insider trading laws did not prohibit him from selling his stock, according to The New York Times.