FORT WORTH, Texas – Oppenheimer & Co. agreed to pay about $2.9 million to settle claims by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Massachusetts attorney general that it misled investors in a private-equity fund, Bloomberg News reported last week. more

In January, a pair of undercover Providence Police Department agents entered Karma nightclub on Richmond Street to conduct a sting operation. more

BOSTON – Massachusetts homeowners have received more than $637 million in total consumer relief during the first full year since the National Mortgage Settlement, Attorney General Martha Coakley said last week. more

Riding the coattails of the federal Affordable Care Act, Rhode Island lawmakers are considering major steps to eliminate “gender rating” in the state’s health-insurance industry. The practice, which has been called everything from “discriminatory” against women to “simply data-driven,” could be eradicated in the Ocean State by 2015, under a Senate-passed bill. more

BOSTON – Massachusetts lost a bid for review of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision renewing the license of Entergy Corp.’s Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, Bloomberg News reported. more

PROVIDENCE – The mayors of four Rhode Island cities joined several state legislators and a coalition of advocates last week in calling for the passage of legislation aimed at freeing Rhode Islanders from a cycle of debt caused by ultra-high-interest payday loans. more

BOSTON – An auto-insurance company has agreed to pay more than $200,000 to settle allegations that it overcharged consumers by failing to reduce premiums as drivers gained additional years of driving experience, Attorney General Martha Coakley said. more

During pretrial discovery in litigation, an organization must produce witnesses to testify on its behalf at depositions. Officers and managers often consider depositions to constitute an inconvenience to business operations, as witnesses must adjust their work schedules for several hours and perhaps entire workdays to answer questions under oath at a lawyer’s office. more

PROVIDENCE – The owner of a local tax-preparation firm has been sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for under-reporting more than $1 million in income and failing to pay nearly $400,000 in federal taxes, The Associated Press reported last week. more

PROVIDENCE – Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis last week warned Rhode Island LLCs to be wary of a direct-mail solicitation from an nonexistent entity calling itself “Rhode Island Corporate Compliance.” The latest notice comes just two months after the company mailed a similar letter to for-profit corporations. more