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 October 29:

SEC solicits comments on effect of whistleblower bounty program on existing corporate compliance programs

Mayer Brown | Aaron Chait, Joseph De Simone, John J. Tharp | Oct 29, 2010

The tension between Dodd-Frank’s whistleblower program and the SOX objective of strengthening corporate compliance programs presents myriad thorny questions that the SEC will have to address in its rulemaking to implement the program. For instance, if a whistleblower reports a suspected violation to the company, and the company self-reports, does the tipster still get the reward? What if the company concludes that the tip is unfounded and that there has been no violation? Can the tipster nevertheless pursue the complaint with the SEC? Are there affirmative obligations on corporations to notify the SEC of whistleblower complaints? Must corporations disclose all investigations of whistleblower complaints lodged with the SEC? And what impact does whistleblower reporting have on the credit available to corporations which cooperate with SEC (and other federal law enforcement) investigations?

Law Empowers SEC to Go After More U.S. Market Players

New York Times | Carlyn Kolker | Oct 29, 2010

As the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill moved through Congress this summer, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission -- virtually unnoticed -- gained a powerful new weapon that could significantly increase the agency's force and reach. A provision deep in the 2,323-page Dodd-Frank law empowers the SEC to bring many more cases for monetary penalties in administrative-law courts, where the rules are more favorable to the government than in federal court. Several constitutional and other due-process protections that are available to defendants in federal court -- from the right to demand a jury trial to broad discovery rights -- don't exist in administrative courts, which are part of the agency itself.

Has Fix-It Time Arrived?

The FCPA Blog | Richard L. Cassin | Oct 28, 2010

What are the odds the next Congress will amend the FCPA? Not bad, we think. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing for it, and Andrew Weissmann, formerly from the DOJ's Enron Task Force and now in private practice, is helping out. Most important, the DOJ is doing its part by clocking lots of mega-settlements that are making headlines.

The Hurdles to Suing Outside Advisers for Fraud

DealBook | Peter Henning | Oct 27, 2010

There was an effort to overturn the Central Bank decision during the negotiations between the House and Senate over the Dodd-Frank Act on financial regulation. Ultimately, that effort was unsuccessful. Instead, all that came out of the legislation was section 929Z, which requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct “a study on the impact of authorizing a private right of action against any person who aids or abets another person in violation of the securities laws” and to report its findings in one year to Congress. The G.A.O. report will probably gather dust — and little else — once it is delivered, and Central Bank’s limitation on liability for securities fraud will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Together with the in pari delicto defense, outside lawyers, accountants and other advisers continue to have strong, although not completely impenetrable, layers of protection from liability for the misconduct of their clients.

The Perils of Implied Messages for Reg FD

Harvard Law School Forum on Corp. Gov. | Annette L. Nazareth | Oct 26, 2010

The Office Depot settlement is a reminder that implicit messages can be tantamount to explicit ones for Reg FD purposes, and that an overly clever approach may seem less so if the enforcement people decide to give you a call. Enforcement staff and the private bar have for many years talked about the risks of nods and winks and other forms of indirect communication. This is also a reminder that one-on-one communications with market professionals, particularly late in a reporting period, are inherently dangerous.

So What Is Insider Trading?

DealBook | Andrew Ross Sorkin | Oct 26, 2010

Many of the recent insider trading cases have one thing in common: an increasingly broad definition of what insider trading actually means. Joel M. Cohen, a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, recently wrote that there had been a “shift in insider-trading jurisprudence away from its roots in deterring and punishing those who abuse special relationships at the expense of shareholders and into a murkier area where the S.E.C. is policing general financial unfairness that has traditionally been considered beyond its authority to regulate.” In other words, the S.E.C. is no longer just making sure that employees are not abusing their position and breaching their fiduciary duty; it is focused on making sure the markets “feel” fair.

How Porsche May Outmaneuver a Securities Suit

DealBook | Steven M. Davidoff | Oct 23, 2010

Porsche is subject to a lawsuit by 39 hedge funds in Federal District Court in Manhattan related to its ill-fated attempt to surreptitiously take over Volkswagen in 2008. Porsche recently filed its motion to dismiss this case, and it looks like Porsche has a good chance at success. The main reason: a Supreme Court decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. that severely limited the ability of security holders to sue foreign corporations in an American court for securities purchased abroad. The case not only has the potential to force these hedge funds to go to Germany to pursue their claims, but also illustrates the strong effect that the Morrison decision is already having on foreign securities litigation in the United States.