Throughout the week over at Securities Docket, I highlight the most interesting columns and blog posts from around the web on the subjects of SEC enforcement and securities litigation. Here is a digest of my picks for the week ending July 30:

The Next Financial Reform Floodgate

Huffington Post | Mark V. Vlasic: | Jul 30, 2010

A lot can turn on an active verb. Hamlet said, "To be or not to be -- that is the question." The same applies to the new Dodd-Frank financial reform bill's whistleblower provisions, signed by President Obama last week, which requires that any whistleblower providing "original information" leading to a penalty over $1 million "shall" receive between 10 and 30% of that collection. For many companies, a world of hurt will soon turn on that single word, "shall."

Wall Street Beat: Dell case serves as cautionary tale

Bloomberg | Marc Ferranti | Jul 30, 2010

Headlines about the complaint and the proposed settlement have centered on the SEC's allegations about payments Intel made to ensure the PC maker continued to boycott AMD chips. But beyond the Intel payments, the SEC's account of how Dell used the so-called cookie jar accounts reads like a textbook explanation of some of the accounting manipulations most frequently used by companies desperate to make quarterly estimates.

Let The Whistleblowers Trade

Forbes.com | Larry Ribstein | Jul 28, 2010

There is a simpler and more effective way to encourage corporate insiders to come forward with information about fraud and corruption. Surprisingly, it is by authorizing conduct that is now illegal: insider trading.

Bribery as a Business Strategy

Huffington Post | Alexandra Wrage | Jul 28, 2010

And so you agree to match the competitor's 10% kick-back to the foreign official. You agree to violate US law and the laws of his country to salvage the deal. Suddenly all smiles, the emissary jots down the name of a small company you've never heard of that can be retained quickly ... this afternoon ... as a local "consultant" on the deal for the convenient sum of 10% of the total value. The following morning you return to U.S. headquarters with the signed contract in hand. What have you just bought for you and your company?

Morrison Precludes F-Squared Cases, Too, Court Concludes

The D&O Diary | Kevin LaCroix | Jul 28, 2010

The Supreme Court’s decision last month in the NAB case precludes so-called "f-cubed" claims (claims brought by foreign plaintiffs who bought foreign stock on a foreign exchange). An unanswered question is whether Morrison also precludes "f-squared" claims – that is, claims by Americans who bought their shares of foreign companies on foreign exchanges. In a July 27, 2010 opinion, SDNY Judge Victor Marrero ruled in the Credit Suisse Group case that Morrison also precludes the f-squared claims as well.

Goldman's penny punishment

Asia Times Online | Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene | Jul 27, 2010

Now $550 million is a lot of money to mere mortals, that nobody can deny. But to Goldman Sachs? It is equivalent to just 4% of Goldman's net earnings for just one year, 2009 ($13.38 billion); or 3.4% of its bonus pool ($16.2 billion) for 2009. All this in one year, a year while the rest of the world was suffering.

Are Securities Class Action Opt-Outs Back?

The D&O Diary | Kevin LaCroix | Jul 26, 2010

Now $550 million is a lot of money to mere mortals, that nobody can deny. But to Goldman Sachs? It is equivalent to just 4% of Goldman's net earnings for just one year, 2009 ($13.38 billion); or 3.4% of its bonus pool ($16.2 billion) for 2009. All this in one year, a year while the rest of the world was suffering.

Wall Street Still Doesn’t Have a Sheriff

NY Times | Richard C. Sauer | Jul 26, 2010

Now $550 million is a lot of money to mere mortals, that nobody can deny. But to Goldman Sachs? It is equivalent to just 4% of Goldman's net earnings for just one year, 2009 ($13.38 billion); or 3.4% of its bonus pool ($16.2 billion) for 2009. All this in one year, a year while the rest of the world was suffering.