Attorneys for the SEC also relied on the prerecorded testimony of former Mamma.com Chairman David Goldman. They called Owen, the investment banker, and Cuban as witnesses.
“We respect the jury’s decision,” John Nester, an SEC spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. “While the verdict in this particular case is not the one we sought, it will not deter us from bringing and trying cases where we believe defendants have violated the federal securities laws.”
Nester declined to make Folena and co-trial counsel Kevin O’Rourke available for comment today.
Stephen A. Best, a lawyer for Cuban, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday that he believes the verdict “sends a message” that the SEC shouldn’t have brought the case.
“It’s not like winning a Mavs championship,” Cuban said after the verdict. His team won the NBA title in 2011. “They weren’t trying to use facts to convince the jury, they were trying to deceive the jury.”
George Canellos, co-director of the SEC’s enforcement division, said in an e-mailed statement that Cuban’s comments were “without merit and uncalled for.”
‘Finest Traditions’
“Our lawyers acted in the finest traditions of government counsel and entirely appropriately in strongly advocating the position of the government in this matter,” Canellos said.
Bourelly, who wasn’t involved in the case, said the SEC must have believed it had a prosecutable case and at least circumstantial evidence of a violation.
“It’s hard as a government enforcer to walk away from a matter like that if you feel you’ve got sufficient evidence to go forward,” he said. “You can’t bring every case, so you try to bring some of the high-profile ones for deterrent effect. The problem is it backfires.”