State orders Mass Lending to cease all operations

The Massachusetts Division of Banks filed a cease-and-desist order against Mass Lending LLC, a Needham mortgage company. The agency said Mass Lending falsified borrowers' incomes on at least a dozen loan applications, for example recording the income of a personal care attendant as $74,556 when in fact the applicant earned about $22,057. The company also was cited for other violations, including charging customers undisclosed fees. The problems were discovered during a routine examination of the company's files. Mass Lending, which also has a location in East Boston, made about 800 mortgage loans over the last two years. No one answered the phone at the company's offices. (Binyamin Appelbaum)

Basis Technology Corp. of Cambridge has won the latest round in a five-year legal slugging match against Amazon.com. Basis specializes in text analysis and information retrieval software in multiple languages and played a major role in the development of Amazon's Japanese website. Amazon holds a significant portion of Basis preferred stock and a board seat. Basis sued in 2003, and the companies reached a settlement. However, the suit alleges that Amazon attempted to back out of the deal, while Basis insisted the deal was binding. A Superior Court ruling agreed with Basis, but Amazon appealed. Last week, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts upheld the lower court ruling. (Hiawatha Bray)

Moody's Investors Service downgraded its debt rating on the parent company of Boston mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments to A1 from Aa3, citing its declining market share, move into lower-margin businesses such as employer services, and growing obligations to employees. Moody's reiterated its past concerns about the control held by chairman and chief executive Edward C. Johnson III, and its lack of independent directors. Fidelity remains one of Moody's three highest-rated asset managers. A Fidelity spokeswoman, Anne Crowley, said Fidelity will record one of its best years ever for 2007 in terms of assets under management and income. (Ross Kerber)

Chip maker Analog Devices Inc. said it has completed the sale of its cellphone chip business to MediaTek Inc. for $350 million. The sale includes Analog's "Othello" and "SoftFone" chipset businesses. The Norwood company will record a one-time gain in its 2008 fiscal first quarter, which ends Feb 2. (AP)

Laboratory supplies company Millipore Corp. has paid the US government $1,000 to settle allegations that two of its subsidiaries made illegal exports to Iran. Millipore paid the fine on behalf of the company and its subsidiaries to settle alleged violations of Iranian transactions regulations. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Controls alleged the companies exported scientific samples to Iran without a proper license. The Billerica-based company voluntarily disclosed the matter to the government. Millipore representatives did not immediately return a call for comment. (AP)

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which runs Foxwoods Resort Casino, said resort president John O'Brien will resign Friday in the midst of an expansion and a fight against a union drive by dealers. In a statement, O'Brien said, "It's the right time for me to move on to pursue other interests, including spending more time with my family." (AP)

The Wall Street Journal will offer free online access to its opinion columns, a move toward scrapping subscriptions to its website after Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought the paper last month. Since 2000, the Journal had offered some of its columns for free, the newspaper said on its wsj.com site. Murdoch has said he plans to eliminate fees for the Journal's site, at a cost of $50 million a year. (Bloomberg)