Charlotte-based Albemarle has agreed to pay $218 million to resolve federal investigations into allegations it bribed government officials in multiple foreign countries. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission were investigating the publicly traded specialty chemicals manufacturing company for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Albemarle self-reported the misconduct.

Shares for Morrisville-based Syneos are no longer trading on the Nasdaq after the company’s acquisition by Elliott Investment Management, Patient Square Capital and Veritas Capital was officially completed last week. The transaction was valued at about $7.1 billion, including outstanding debt, for the company that offers clinical and commercial services and has 29,000 employees globally.

The office of North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein sent a letter to the president of HCA Healthcare's North Carolina division, Greg Lowe. The letter questions whether HCA is complying with the terms of the $1.5 billion agreement to buy the former nonprofit system by failing to provide adequate oncology services in the region.

A majority ownership of Cook & Boardman Group, a distributor of doors, frames and security systems based in Winston-Salem, is being sold to Los Angeles private equity company Platinum Equity. Terms were not disclosed. One of the state’s largest privately held companies, Cook & Boardman employs 1,400 people.

Buncombe County’s tourism director Victoria “Vic” Isley will receive compensation totaling up to $456,000 this fiscal year and up to $578,000 or more in 2026 under a three-year contract renewal recently approved by the tax-supported agency. Isley’s compensation package puts her in the “lower 25 percentile for sure” of her peers across the country, Searchwide Global CEO Mike Gamble said.

A hosiery maker will lay off 126 workers in Lumberton, which the company blames on fewer women wearing pantyhose and tights. The cuts take effect by the end of the year. Greensboro-based Kayser-Roth has owned the manufacturing plant in Lumberton since the late 1970s, manufacturing women’s hosiery under the No Nonsense and Hue brands.

Charlotte physician Sudipta Mazumder, 47, was found guilty for her role in a scheme that defrauded federal benefits programs of more than $5 million, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s office in western North Carolina. Between 2019 and 2020, Mazumder signed fraudulent orders for medically unnecessary medical equipment for patients insured by Medicare and TRICARE programs.

Reports spread last week that synth giant Moog Music had laid off 30 workers at its Asheville headquarters just months after it was acquired by the audio equipment company inMusic. Moog has since released a statement confirming that layoffs had happened within its production team. The statement confirmed that its HQ will remain in Asheville.