This is why boards of directors-especially compensation committees-are under attack.

When Steve Odland resigned as Office Depot's chairman and CEO last fall, the company's stock surged 9 percent on the same day.

The SEC has settled a rare Reg FD case with Office Depot and two of its executives, including its top finance exec.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Office Depot with unrelated accounting violations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a rare Reg FD case earlier this week.

The regulator brought this action against Presstek, a maker and distributor of digital imaging equipment and its former chief executive officer, Edward J. Marino. The SEC's complaint alleges that on September 28, 2006, while acting on behalf of Presstek, Marino selectively disclosed material non-public information regarding Presstek's financial performance during the third quarter of 2006 to a managing partner of a registered investment adviser. The SEC also alleges that within minutes of receiving the information from Marino, the partner decided to sell his firm's entire Presstek stake. According to the complaint, Presstek did not simultaneously disclose to the public the information provided by Marino to the partner.

Presstek agreed to pay a civil penalty of $400,000 as part of its deal to settle the Commission's charges, without admitting or denying the allegations. The Commission said it took into account certain remedial measures taken by Presstek, including revising its corporate communications policies and corporate governance principles, replacing its management team and appointing new independent board members, and creating a whistleblower's hotline.

Buried beneath all the vast Internet chafe of news blurbs and press releases are untold numbers of gems that shed light on how corporate officers shouldn't behave. One of them includes a recent analysis by two Chicago lawyers who found a cautionary tale in an obscure SEC settlement filing from this past fall.

The story revolves around one Christopher Black, who in the summer of 2007 was the chief financial officer for American Commercial Lines, a publicly traded Indiana-based marine transport outfit that runs hundreds of barges and towboats up and down the Mississippi River. ACL is one of those companies that are especially subject to the whims of the commodities markets. As such, its earnings from one quarter to the next can defy expectations perhaps more than companies in other sectors.