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 June 24.

New Rules: For Pharma, ‘Foreign Official' Is A Bitter Pill

WSJ Corruption Currents | Joe Palazzolo | Jun 24, 2011

If a doctor or a nurse in a state-run hospital can be considered as such — and, according to the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, they can — then employees of global pharma companies interact with foreign officials thousands of times each day. Two recent court rulings have largely reinforced this view, and Johnson & Johnson's $70 million settlement in April over charges it engaged in a multi-year scheme to bribe doctors and hospital administrators appears to be the opening act in a wide-ranging probe into the industry.

SEC Looks Toothless in Morgan Keegan Deal

American Banker | Jeff Horwitz | Jun 24, 2011

The $200 million civil settlement with Regions Financial Corp.'s brokerage unit this week was the sort of case that the Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulators believe should guide industry behavior.... But not all the lessons to be drawn from the case are of the sort that regulators might like. Though the more than yearlong investigation laid out extensive evidence that Morgan Keegan & Co. employees actively misled investors in a series of bond funds by hiding losses and manipulating pricing information, it also signals the limits of current enforcement.

SEC May Obtain Penalties for Insider Trading Only Where the Trader Profits or Avoids a Loss

News & Insight | Robert Fusfeld | Jun 24, 2011

[In SEC v. Rosenthal et al., 2011 WL 2247585 (2d Cir. June 9, 2011),] the court ruled that the SEC may not obtain civil money penalties when insider trading results in no monetary gain (profit or loss avoided) to the defendants. In other words, traders who trade on inside information, but do not obtain a monetary benefit, are not subject to penalties. The defendants were convicted on insider trading charges and the SEC brought a follow-on civil case in 2007. They traded on tips from an auditor about a proposed corporate acquisition. The acquisition did not occur and as a result the trades resulting from the tip did not result in a profit or the avoidance of losses.

What Does The SEC FCPA Unit Chief Do?

FCPA Professor | Mike Koehler | Jun 23, 2011

Wonder no longer. Given Cheryl Scarboro's recently announced departure from the FCPA Unit Chief position (see here for the prior post), the SEC recently posted the opening for the position. The "Major Duties" portion of the job posting is actually an interesting and informative read. Want proof that the SEC executes "targeted sweeps and sector-wide investigations." It is in the job description.

A Dirty Business: Preet Bharara Takes on Wall Street Crime

The New Yorker | George Packer | Jun 20, 2011

Rajaratnam never took the stand, allowing Kumar and other witnesses to narrate the story of Galleons fall. He sat silent and imperturbable on the bench behind the defense table for weeks while his voice echoed in the courtroom day after day, through the static of the wiretaps. (The government played forty-six tapes.) Alongside the shallow cockiness of Rengan Rajaratnam, the pathetic insecurities of Danielle Chiesi, and the sour knowingness of Anil Kumar, Raj Rajaratnamwho never raised his voice and never let his own vanity or his interlocutors neuroses distract him from the business of the dayseemed like the only sound character in the bunch. Yet his every word incriminated him.

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