Wall Street has increasingly taken up its old habit of blaming junior bankers and traders for what goes wrong, despite the fact that the goal at every firm is always to make more money in any way that is legally defensible – by selling more mortgage-backed securities, by doing bigger and bigger mergers-and-acquisition deals, or by making a larger and larger bet on the direction of an obscure debt index. more

SJ Corio Co. President Salvatore Corio Jr. has been running liquidation auctions in Rhode Island since 1983, so when he took on the 38 Studios LLC bankruptcy sale, he knew he was in for a big job. With over 2,000 lots on the block, selling everything in one session while maximizing returns for taxpayers would take speed and endurance. Over a nearly uninterrupted 10 hours of bidding, the auction recovered $650,000 for the state as Corio mixed his trademark blend of rapid-fire humor with salesmanship. More than once, he asked for a bid of $75 million, the amount of the 38 Studios loan guarantee. more

Before their properties faced the rising floodwaters of Hurricane Sandy, homeowners on Misquamicut Beach in Westerly were bracing for a legal siege from the state of Rhode Island. more

BOSTON – Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week Jennifer Stark has been appointed as Business and Labor Bureau chief, while Deputy Chief of Staff Britte McBride will oversee the office’s Policy and Government Division. more

Rhode Island is set to receive $1.24 million as part of a lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline LLC over deceptive marketing practices concerning the diabetes drug Avandia, R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced Thursday. more

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley this month announced they have joined a coalition of other attorneys general representing 46 states and territories in urging Congress to adequately fund programs to combat human trafficking. more

Rhode Island’s $75 million loan guarantee to 38 Studios LLC was already synonymous with bad judgment. The state’s lawsuit against the deal’s participants now attempts to link it with fraud and incompetence. more

(Editor’s note: This is the final installment in a three-part series on tax-planning considerations and strategies for tax-year 2012.) more

PROVIDENCE – Rep. Maria Cimini, D-Providence, scored the highest mark in the General Assembly on the 2012 Common Cause Legislative Scorecard. more

BOSTON – Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week that a pharmaceutical manufacturer has agreed to pay more than $730,000 to the Massachusetts Medicaid Program as part of a settlement resolving allegations of improper off-label marketing of four of its drugs. more