Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading in the Internet search engine company Mamma.com Inc. He faces civil penalties for acting on nonpublic information.

Cuban is one of five finalists in the running to purchase the Chicago Cubs MLB team. Mamma.com allegedly approached Cuban about buying discounted stock as long as he kept the information private, but instead had his broker sell all his stock.

When the discount was publicly offered, the firm’s stock dropped 9.3 percent in value. Cuban had sold his entire position within hours of being informed of the early opportunity to buy shares at a discount.