“They couldn’t see him. They couldn’t assess his credibility,” Slotnick, a New York-based partner at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC who wasn’t involved in the case, said of Faure’s testimony. “They had Mark Cuban in person tell them what actually happened.”
In reaching their decision, jurors were required to answer seven questions, among them whether Cuban had received material, non-public information about the PIPE, whether he had agreed to keep that information confidential and not act on it, and whether he acted on it without telling the company he planned to do so.
Their answer to those questions was no.
Jury Forewoman
Jane Rothman, 64, of Rockwall, Texas, a legal administrative assistant in an insurance office, served as the jury’s forewoman. She said in a phone interview that the jury did its due diligence in reviewing the evidence and reaching its verdict.
“The case was not as strong as persons with the SEC thought it was,” Rothman said. She declined to comment further, saying, “It wasn’t a single thing.”
Testifying live, Cuban told jurors that while he recalled the conversation with Faure, he couldn’t remember the details. Cuban said he didn’t have a verbal agreement to keep the information secret and not act on it.
He also said he told Arnold Owen, the Mamma.com investment banker handling the PIPE transaction, that he planned to sell.
“It’s one guy’s word against another guy,” said Alex Bourelly, a former SEC attorney who is now a partner in the Washington office of Baker Botts LLP.
Mavericks, Theaters