Over the last two days the media and blogosphere has formed opinions, speculated, crucified, harrangued and harrassed Mark Cuban on the basis of one sided Securities And Exchange Commission(SEC) spin. During that time, Jeffrey Norris, the SEC attorney, who had the contentious “Loose Change” email exchange with Mark while his employer investigated allegations of insider trading has been able to hide under his desk. He has been able to slink home every night relatively free from any type of media exposure. That is all over. The emails between SEC attorney Jeffrey Norris and Mark Cuban have been made public. It is time to enter the email “no spin zone”. It is time for Jeff’s integrity, ethics and propriety of actions to be put under the same microsope. Here is the pdf link to the full text of the email exchanges between Jeffery Norris and Mark Cuban. The emails speak for themselves. Come to your own conclusions about the integrity of Mr. Norris and his office in general.
November 21st, 2008 at 3:28 am
if he formulates his SEC arguments as poorly as he does in these emails, then i hope he is the lead in the allegations against Mark. what a joke – can I introduce legislation to allow my tax dollars to be put somewhere other than his salary?
November 21st, 2008 at 3:41 am
In retrospect, I'm sure Mr. Norris will agree, that e-mails, fired off in anger and haste, without adequate research and supporting facts, are a very bad thing – especially when done using one's office or position, not as a citizen. A maxim I learned a long time ago, and I hope I never forget or ignore when I am in a "foaming-at-the-mouth" mood, never send an email you wouldn't be proud of to see in a newspaper or be confident of defending yourself in court.
Not that I am sympathetic to Mr. Norris, but he started this fight, and it certainly appears he smacked himself right in the nose!
November 21st, 2008 at 4:20 am
Unreal. Is this all the Trial Consuel of the US SEC has to do? So he disagrees with Mark. Big deal. We all don't have to agree. But it is obvious this is what stimulated Mr. Norris to dig up trade that Mark made in 1999 and make it into a big deal. It seems Mr. Morris wants to take America back the McCarthy era.
Aren't their bigger issues for the SEC to pursue? Mark didn't put anyone's job at risk, didn't risk anyone's retirment or falsify anything.
Mr. Norris has to figure out what to look at and what really matters.
November 21st, 2008 at 5:05 am
I'm a huge critic of the 9/11 conspiracy theory gullibles who believe everything Thierry Meyssan wrote in the book based on his own farfetched/agitprop musings It's clear Mark didn't subscribe to the ideas in "Loose Change". This Norris fellow seems engaged in pure harrassment in his emails. I didn't read it thoroughly enough to see if a direct link between the harrassment and the recent filing of charges is demonstrated.
But it certainly seems suspicious.
November 21st, 2008 at 5:15 am
This Norris character seems like a total fascist. It's nice to see what caliber of legal counsel the SEC is hiring these days.
November 21st, 2008 at 5:35 am
Brian,
Appreciate your posting this, if for no other reason than it provides a balance to we who, through the mass media outlets, get a pretty biased skew on the facts versus opinions surrounding Mark's business dealings. Sadly, it seem the number of folks who question what they hear, read or see via conventional media has dwindled, making the aspect of conviction in the court of public opinion all to knee-jerk reactionary.
And yes indeed, it does make one question – do they not have more important things to be focused on than trying to make examples of higher profile folks by trotting them out on a rail?
November 21st, 2008 at 6:23 am
I can not believe a government official has the time to make this exchange (and do it so poorly)…wait, yes I can. Norris scares me a lot more than Bush does…and I'm a Republican!
November 21st, 2008 at 7:21 am
oh my Gosh,Jeffery – geta a life!
November 21st, 2008 at 7:24 am
Coincidence? I think not.
November 21st, 2008 at 8:53 am
"It is time for Jeff’s integrity, ethics and propriety of actions to be put under the same microsope." Agreed, but I'm not sure you have a big enough microscope. He sounds like a fool just for taking up that much time.
I'm surprised that Cuban and Norris spent so much time engaging in a protracted debate that boils down to "I think you're dumb." "Oh yeah?. I think *you're* dumb!"
November 21st, 2008 at 9:07 am
This only shows that this guy should recuse himself from the investigation, not whether cuban is a crook, right?
November 21st, 2008 at 10:09 am
RULE # 1:
Never argue with a fool. People might not know the difference.
November 21st, 2008 at 10:38 am
Am I crazy? This email is about basketball, movies Et Al What – this is totally out of line. This is bizarre and weird
November 21st, 2008 at 11:39 am
What an email exchange. Never liked M. Cuban, but after an email like that I am starting to think differently..
Jeff guy is a moron.. it seems that these emails went as long as the did, because Jeff wanted Cuban to remember him.. otherwise – why spend so much time??? Jeff, if your opinion is so much different from Mark's, do you have to express it to it's fullest extent? I guess the payback for that "opinion" and the way it was projected is judgement in the eyes of tens of thousands of readers..
November 21st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Thanks for posting that, Brian. The public deserves to see this, and I hope everyone really considers taking the time to read the emails.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:46 am
Sorry Brian, I'm a supporter of your brother, but I don't see how these emails reflect poorly on the SEC attorney at all. He apparently has hard-line political views, but that doesn't affect his integrity (or that of the SEC). I don't really see the connection you are trying to make to his integrity. And in no way do these emails undermine the case against your brother in any way. Should he have sent these emails from his work account? No. Should he be having these kind of communications with someone he's investigating? Absolutely not. Does this make the case against Mark Cuban any less strong? No
That being said, your brother will go down as one of the best owners in NBA history. The sports world needs more owners like Mark Cuban. I wish your brother luck in getting these charges thrown out if the charges are in fact untrue.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:54 am
Jeff, sorry but you are dead wrong. This guy appears to have a severe vendetta against Mark. This is 2008. These charges are from 2004!!!!! Please, this is someone attempting to use his authority to attack someone based on personal opinions. He must be fired. Please tell me how the Mavericks or a film has anything to do with an alleged stock sale in 2004?
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:10 am
Rick, I actually think that is the point Jeff is making. I am not going to comment on facts other than to say there are some specific reasons why the emails are relevant if you step back from the actual subject matter of the exchanges.
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:12 am
I understand where you are coming from. You however IMHO are barking up the wrong tree when you focus on the actual exhanges. Take a step back from what they were arguing about and look again….
November 22nd, 2008 at 7:23 am
Bad judgment all around.
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:00 am
Maybe they are irrelevant, maybe not. Once Cox was brought into the mix and stayed there without terminating the exchange of his subordinate, the emails became admissible to show bias of not only him but the entire process
November 23rd, 2008 at 4:52 am
I figured that all this started over Transparency. Mark starts BailoutSleuth.com and a month later the SEC digs up something trivial (compared to the raping of Americans investments today) from 4 years ago. SEC Commissioner Chris Cox and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson have known each other for a long time and are spending more time together now than in the past with all the corruption on Wall Street that has recently taken place. Paulson has made it very clear that he is adverse to any transparency with the billions of dollars he is dolling out. Is it possible that Paulson was aware of the new BailoutSleuth.com website?
November 23rd, 2008 at 4:53 am
CONTINUED… Let us see, he’s the Treasury Secretary opposed to transparency and a well-known billionaire starts a website that does just what he does not want done. I think he was informed of it somehow, someway, don’t you? I am sure you can conclude where I am going with this. Whether it is Jeff Norris or a wink and a nod to Cox by Paulson, it seems to me that there is an abuse of power here, no matter how small, or in the case of the Commissioner and Secretary, how big. I believe that if you start with where the snowball began, you will find something much more repugnant giving it a push to start it’s downhill trek.
November 24th, 2008 at 4:32 am
The only person who used bad judgment here was Mr. Norris who used his work email account to attack and criticize an individual on matters completely unrelated to the mission of the SEC (i.e., to protect investors).
November 24th, 2008 at 11:05 am
This is yet one more example of why the richer and more famous you are, the nicer you should be to everyone. Mark is a good guy who probably will be inconvenienced, but not disrupted by this SEC employee's political agenda. You would think our government would have more important things to worry about – Like maybe going after all the Wall Street CEOs, Investment Bankers and Mortgage brokers that have turned our economy into crap.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Incredible.
I'm trying to think of the word that means you seek out a person to harrass and try to humiliate in public. It seems pretty childish of Jeff. Aren't there laws against harrassment?
November 25th, 2008 at 1:08 am
This guy needs to keep his personal life and business life seperate. But it looks like this guy has a I can do whatever i want attitude because I work for the SEC. What else is he wasting taxpayer money on? Doesn't seem that the SEC is getting what it is paying for…..Using company email for personal use at this level – Looks like the SEC needs to take action against there own.. Go Mavs!!!!
November 25th, 2008 at 5:40 am
When this issue came out in the news about Mark's sale of stock in 1999 (for crying out loud), I really was smacked in the head with disbelief. Now, at the end of the miserable Bush Administration term(s), this moron (Jeff Norris) is going after Mark in what appears to be payback for disagreement with him (Jeff) and the current presidents administration.
The entirety of this bull smacks completely of domestic terrorism to me – by the government. Just like the last 8 years of hell. Uninformed at that and just because they can!
I am currently printing out all these lovely emails.
By the way, I love BailoutSleuth.com!!
Thanks, Brian, for posting these emails.
And, best wishes to Mark. I'm sorry this is happening to him.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:56 am
This is creazy and people believe in given the goverment more power. The fact is clear the goverment has been given a Cart Blanc to act has they please. They employee individuals who meet the stablishment personal agenda. Please people get together and exercise your reason, exercise good investigation skills and make they right decision. Not base in racial, religious, economical discrimination. But please take the power back from those who we entrust to protect us if they show any lack of moral turpitude. Now the goverment has a fight in there hands because MC is a billionare but what about who are not.
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:47 am
I understand Mr. Norris has possibly done something wrong, but if Mr. Cuban is aloud to express his own political views through this movie, then why can't Norris? From what we've seen of the e-mails (only Norris' side, not Cuban's), Norris has never been fowl mouthed towards Cuban. This whole thing has blown way out of proportion.
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 am
I understand you may delete my comments, but you may not put this to rest Mr. Norris has done nothing wrong. He has been nothing but polite, there was no evidence of fowl mouthing in Mr. Norris's emails.
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:59 am
Okay, that's it the only thing that has been done here is that you wont let people express how they feal about this article. Mr. Norris has done nothing wrong. There was no evidence of fowl mouthing, he has been nothing but polite. Yes i will admit it was kinda stupid for him to email Mark because you are evil. You have no respect for people views and opinions.
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 am
I may not agree Tammy but i respect them all, even yours,
July 18th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Thanks for making those emails public. It really bothers me to see people like Norris equate the content of a film like Loose Change with Nazism, racism etc. This is a tactic that has become common for those who defend the official conspiracy theory and is used to place those who question it in a defensive posture. Since when are conspiracy theories unacceptable? Prosecuting attornies offer nothing but conspiracy theories to juries, then once evidence is examined and a verdict is reached, the conspiracy theories become known as truth. Why is examination of the evidence not allowed when it comes to 911? Never is a calm debate about the points that the film makes undertaken. A lawyer, of all people, should be able to analyze data and evidence and come to a rational conclusion as would a scientist.
So to go from this weak attack on Mark's freedom to distribute a dissenting film by Norris to a weak SEC case with him as the attacker once again would appear to be more than a strong coincidence.