Four former Merrill Lynch employees and an ex-Enron executive have been found guilty of fraudulently inflating the energy firm’s profits.
A jury convicted ex-bankers Daniel Bayly, Robert Furst, William Fuhs and James Brown of fraud and conspiracy.
Ex-Enron finance director Dan Boyle was also found guilty
Shares in US drug maker Merck tumbled nearly 10% on Monday after a press report suggesting the firm may have ignored problems with one of its drugs.
Merck withdrew Vioxx, a top-selling painkiller, on 30 September after evidence linking it to heart problems.
The Wall Street Journal has now published e-mails which, if genuine, suggest Merck may have known about the concerns for years, the paper says
The controversial award of a key Iraqi oil contract to US giant Halliburton is now being investigated by the FBI, it has been claimed.
A lawyer for a US army official has said the FBI has asked to speak to his client about how the army gave the firm a key deal to restore Iraqi oil.
The FBI claims come as a US government inquiry continues to look at why the deal was not put open to competition
US telecoms giant Qwest Communications has agreed to pay $250m (£136.7m) to settle charges stemming from an inquiry into an alleged securities fraud.
The Denver-based firm did not admit any liability in the case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission
The US government will set up an inquiry into the no-bid Iraq contracts given to Halliburton, the company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney.
The move is the latest embarrassment for the firm, which faces losing its Iraq contracts with the US Army.
Halliburton’s Iraq deals had been criticised by the International Advisory Monitoring Board, a UN group monitoring the use of Iraq’s resources
US insurers are in the spotlight after New York attorney general Elliot Spitzer sued Marsh & McLennan, the world’s largest insurance broker.
Mr Spitzer claims that since the late 1990s, Marsh got illegal payments for steering clients to firms such as Ace and American International Group (AIG).
On Wall Street on Friday, Marsh shares fell 14%, with AIG down 4%
Norwegian oil and gas giant Statoil has agreed to pay a 20m-kroner ($3m; £1.7m) penalty imposed upon it for alleged bribery in Iran.
The company has however “not admitted or denied the charges”
Japanese banking giant UFJ has been raided by prosecutors investigating whether the group hindered an official probe into bad loans.
The raid is thought to have come in response to a complaint filed by Japan’s markets watchdog on Thursday.
The Financial Services Agency also banned UFJ from lending to new clients for six months
Life insurer Standard Life has said that it is unable to keep its promise to make up the shortfall in its customers’ endowment mortgages.
Up to 600,000 investors may be affected by the insurer’s move. In 2000, the mutual said it would guarantee its endowment policies provided it met investment targets
The former chief of Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi Motors has denied criminal charges that he conspired to cover up defects which led to a fatal accident.
Former president Katsuhiko Kawasoe and ex-vice president Takashi Usami are on trial in Yokohama, near Tokyo.
Mitsubishi has admitted that it covered up the clutch problem which led to the death of a truck driver in 2002