Suns point guard Steve Nash puts up a floater over a leaping Jarron Collins of Utah in the first quarter of the teams' game Monday night.

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WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Monday charged Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses.

Cuban disputed the Securities and Exchange Commission's allegations and said he would contest them.

In a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Dallas, the SEC alleged that in June 2004, Cuban was invited to get in on the coming stock offering by Mamma.com Inc. after he agreed to keep the information private.

Cuban owned 6.3 percent of Mamma.com's stock at the time and was the largest known shareholder in the search engine firm, according to the SEC. The agency said Cuban knew the shares would be sold below market price, and a few hours after receiving the information, he told his broker to sell all 600,000 shares before the public announcement of the offering.

By selling when he did, Cuban avoided losses exceeding $750,000, the SEC said.

Cuban, 50 and a multidollarbillionaire, is a tech entrepreneur who sold his Broadcast.com to Yahoo in 1999 at the height of the dot-com boom. He bought the Mavericks in 2000.

He is the best-known figure to be accused by the SEC of illegal insider trading since its case against Martha Stewart in 2002 for allegedly using advance knowledge of negative news for a company to sell her shares and avoid $45,673 in losses. The homemaking diva paid about $195,000 and served five months in prison.

"It is fundamentally unfair for someone to use access to nonpublic information to improperly gain an edge on the market," Scott Friestad, the SEC's deputy enforcement director, said in a statement.

The SEC is seeking a court judgment against Cuban finding that he violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, an injunction against future violations, an unspecified civil penalty and restitution of the losses Cuban allegedly avoided.

In a statement, Cuban said, "I am disappointed that the (SEC) chose to bring this case based upon its enforcement staff's win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff's process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government's claims are false and they will be proven to be so."

SALT LAKE CITY — Carlos Boozer had 21 points and 15 rebounds, Andrei Kirilenko added 19 points and two big blocks in the fourth quarter, and the Utah Jazz snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Phoenix Suns 109-97 Monday night.

Brevin Knight had six assists and 12 points as the Jazz got the Suns in foul trouble and pulled away in the second half.

Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal both drew their fourth fouls early in the third quarter, then the Suns couldn't shoot early in the fourth. Utah scored 13 straight during one stretch.

Amare Stoudemire led Phoenix with 30 points and eight rebounds. Nash had 14 points and eight assists, but O'Neal had just nine points and one rebound.

● Rockets 100, Thunder 89: In Oklahoma City, Luis Scola scored 23 points, Yao Ming added 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Houston made a second-half surge without an injured Tracy McGrady.

McGrady left the game in the opening minute of the second half after aggravating his surgically repaired left knee.

● Spurs 86, Clippers 83: In Los Angeles, Roger Mason's three-pointer with 8.4 seconds left lifted San Antonio to its third straight victory. Mason led the Spurs with 21 points.

● The Celtics' Kevin Garnett has been suspended for one game, and the Suns' O'Neal has been fined $25,000 for separate incidents over the weekend.

Garnett was penalized for hitting Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut in the face in Saturday's game. O'Neal was fined for verbally abusing an official and failing to leave the court quickly after being ejected Sunday night against Detroit.

● Golden State signed Stephen Jackson to a three-year contract extension Monday through the 2012-13 season.