"Insider trading is a form of cheating," said Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer Jan Folena as the trial got under way. "It's like being the only person in the class who knows the answer to the test before you take it."
Mr. Cuban, the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, was in turn depicted by his lead lawyer as innocent and willing to stand before the government because he has nothing to hide.
"The guilty man flees when one gives chase but the righteous man stands bold," Thomas Melsheimer, a lawyer for Mr. Cuban, told the jury in his opening argument.
The long-running case stems from a suit the SEC filed in 2008, claiming Mr. Cuban violated federal securities laws in 2004 when he sold his entire 6% stake in a Canadian Internet search company after learning inside information from the company's chief executive.
Mr. Cuban, one of the more outspoken owners in professional sports, has denied wrongdoing and vigorously fought the case, setting up a rare insider trading trial involving a prominent public figure.
He faces several million dollars in potential fines but no jail time if the 10-member jury finds him liable for the civil charges.
Mr. Cuban "could have settled this case, paid a little money, and gone on with his life," said James Cox, a securities-law professor at Duke Law School.
Ultimately, Mr. Cox said, "the verdict may come down to whether the jury likes" Mr. Cuban, who is expected to testify during trial.
The SEC claims Mamma.com's DPSI -1.56% chief executive, Guy Fauré, contacted Mr. Cuban by phone on June 28, 2004 and told him he had confidential information that the company was about to issue new shares in a private offering— an event that could cause the stock price to drop and would dilute Mr. Cuban's stake in the company.
During the eight-minute phone call, Mr. Cuban allegedly acknowledged the conversation was confidential, telling Mr. Fauré, "Now, I'm screwed. I can't sell," Ms. Folena told the jury, citing a deposition in the case in which Mr. Fauré recounted the phone call.
Even though Mr. Cuban allegedly knew he couldn't trade on that information until it was publicly disclosed, Ms. Folena said he nonetheless jumped the gun, unloading his entire stake in Mamma.com within a day of the call.
The sale allowed Mr. Cuban to avoid more than $750,000 in losses when the company's share price dropped after the public learned about the private stock offering.
"Mark Cuban is a smart and successful investor and businessman," Ms. Folena said during her hourlong opening argument. "That same determination, that drive to win, that competitive edge that makes him successful is exactly what caused him to break the law in this case."
Mr. Melsheimer countered by telling jurors that investors had known about Mamma.com's private share offering for months before Mr. Fauré told Mr. Cuban about it in June 2004. And during that phone call, he said, Mr. Cuban never agreed to keep the share offering confidential, or to refrain from trading his stock based on the information.
"Mr. Cuban made no agreement of any kind on June 28 with Guy Fauré," Mr. Melsheimer said, adding that his client flatly denied making the alleged statement at the heart of the government's case: "Now, I'm screwed. I can't sell."
"The truth will prove Mr. Cuban has done nothing wrong," Mr. Melsheimer said.
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