Good morning. A group of state attorneys general is preparing to move forward with a joint antitrust investigation of big technology companies, according to people familiar with the matter, adding another layer of scrutiny to an industry already under a federal spotlight. The effort is expected to be formally launched as soon as next month, the people said, and is likely to focus on whether a handful of dominant tech platforms use their marketplace powers to stifle competition.

As part of the probe, the group of state attorneys general is likely to issue civil investigative demands, similar to subpoenas, to tech giants and other firms, the people said.

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The new investigation could dovetail with plans by the U.S. Justice Department, which last month announced its own antitrust review that will focus on tech companies including Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit and Facebook Inc. In addition to the Justice Department probe, the Federal Trade Commission is investigating antitrust concerns at Facebook, including the company’s acquisition of nascent tech companies, as well as competitive issues elsewhere in the tech industry.

The involvement of the state attorneys general could add to complexity and cost for the companies. These officials were viewed as a driving force in the landmark joint state-federal antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. two decades ago.

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A trade finance company has been fined for allegedly buying and collecting debt of a blacklisted entity, the Treasury Department said Friday. A U.S. subsidiary of Dutch trade finance insurer Atradius NV agreed to pay more than $345,000 to settle allegations that it violated U.S. sanctions, according to a statement from the Treasury.

Sanctions lawyers said the settlement is a reminder of OFAC’s jurisdiction. U.S. regulations prohibit U.S. individuals or entities from engaging with designated entities, including property in which the blacklisted entities have an interest. “The reach of what is considered an interest in property is quite expansive,” said David Brummond, a Jacobson Burton Kelley PLLC lawyer.

The U.S. Justice Department has closed a foreign bribery investigation into medical device maker Misonix Inc.’s former distributor in China, the company said. The Farmingdale, N.Y.-based manufacturer of ultrasonic medical devices received a letter from the Justice Department last week saying there won’t be any enforcement action in connection with its China business, the company said in a securities filing made Friday.

The decision follows a separate move by the Securities and Exchange Commission in June to end its own foreign bribery probe into the company. The investigations came to a close nearly three years after Misonix voluntarily alerted U.S. authorities to potential issues at its business in China, illustrating how long it can take for the government to decide whether a matter warrants an enforcement action.

General Electric Co. pushed back further against claims by an accounting expert that the company hasn’t been forthright about its finances. In a new investor update, the company said it believes the current reserves for its long-term-care insurance business are well supported by its portfolio of investments. GE also defended the accounting for its oil-and-gas business.

Last week, Harry Markopolos, the accounting expert who raised red flags about Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, accused GE of masking its financial problems and filing inaccurate or fraudulent information with regulators.

• PG&E Corp. shares plunged after a judge allowed a trial on whether its equipment caused the second-worst wildfire in California history, a case that could add billions of dollars to the liabilities the bankrupt company faces. California fire investigators concluded in January that PG&E equipment didn’t cause the Tubbs fire, the deadliest in a series of wildfires that burned California’s wine country in 2017. But attorneys representing fire victims strongly dispute that finding and persuaded the judge overseeing PG&E’s chapter 11 proceeding on Friday to permit a state civil trial on the issue.
   
• Companies across the U.S. are preparing to give federal regulators the most detailed information ever collected about how they compensate workers of all genders, races and ethnicities. All employers with more than 100 workers must disclose a broad array of pay information to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by Sept. 30. The move is part of a push by the government to narrow longstanding earnings gaps, agency officials have said.
   
• Drugmakers Endo International PLC and Allergan PLC are in talks to avoid going to a landmark trial set to begin in October over the opioid crisis, according to people familiar with the matter. Endo is close to finalizing a $10 million deal, and Allergan is in negotiations for a potential $5 million deal that would settle claims over its branded drugs but may not entirely eliminate it from the trial, the people said.
   
• A hedge fund that closed after securities regulators accused the firm of insider trading is seeking more than $100 million from the estate of one of its former portfolio managers. Visium Asset Management LP filed the complaint this month in New York Supreme Court under the name VA Management LP. The firm said it is seeking more than $100 million it paid to money manager Sanjay Valvani and “the investigative and legal fees and all other losses resulting from Valvani’s breach of fiduciary duty.
   
• A federal judge dismissed a racketeering lawsuit brought against McKinsey & Co. by turnaround industry veteran Jay Alix, who claimed the consulting firm profited by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in bankruptcy cases. Judge Jesse Furman of the U.S. District Court in New York said Monday that Mr. Alix’s allegations, if true, are “certainly troubling.” But the judge ruled Mr. Alix’s allegations that McKinsey won bankruptcy business at the expense of rival AlixPartners LLP couldn’t sustain the lawsuit.

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Armed attackers kidnapped 17 crew members from German and Greek vessels in piracy-troubled waters off the coast of Cameroon in two incidents last week and are seeking “huge sums” for their release, people involved in the matter said.

The South Atlantic Ocean region off the West African coast has become a notorious region for piracy, oil theft and drug trafficking. The International Maritime Bureau, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce, which coordinates efforts against maritime crime, has issued a warning to all ships sailing off Cameroon to take extra precautions against attacks.

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Companies that use artificial intelligence are strengthening their standards for the technology, creating governance policies and hiring executives to make sure their algorithms meet ethical and regulatory requirements. 

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and analytics software company Fair Isaac Co., creator of the widely used FICO credit score, are rolling out in-house technology systems designed in part to track whether AI algorithms adhere to a set of standards. FICO is using blockchain for the project. And MassMutual recently named its first AI ethics and governance chief, responsible for implementing a new governance policy.

AI algorithms are becoming a core part of how companies function, used in automating repetitive tasks, improving customer service and more, said Jim Hare, research vice president for analytics and data science at Gartner Inc. But because algorithms can behave in unintended ways, he said, companies are trying to get a better grip on how they build and maintain them “to prevent AI gone wild.”

The Business Roundtable on Monday changed its statement of “the purpose of a corporation.” No longer should decisions be based solely on whether they will yield higher profits for shareholders, the group said. Rather, corporate leaders should take into account “all stakeholders”—that is, employees, customers and society writ large.

It is a major philosophical shift for the association, which counts the chief executives of dozens of the biggest U.S. companies as its members. The group, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO James Dimon, is a powerful voice in Washington for U.S. business interests. The group represents a broad swath of American industry, counting among its members the leaders of technology giants and manufacturing companies, airlines and institutional investors, to name a few.

Norsk Hydro ASA’s investigation of a ransomware attack it suffered in March has revealed new vulnerabilities, leading it to test using artificial intelligence to secure its industrial equipment.

The Norway-based aluminum company, whose business includes mining, smelting and renewable-energy generation, also reorganized its security team to better detect and respond to cyber incidents.

Norsk Hydro is developing an AI tool to detect hackers as they attempt to access its industrial equipment, Chief Information Officer Jo De Vliegher said in an interview. The tool looks for unusual activity that could signal hacking, such as frequent password changes on devices. It then triggers an alarm to Norsk Hydro’s cybersecurity team.

“There are things that are obviously part of normal business, unless they start to happen too frequently in too many sites,” Mr. De Vliegher said.

The pizza chain that helped popularize delivery is keeping its pies off other services that allow diners to order all manner of cuisines to their doors.

Delivery has become one of the most divisive issues in the restaurant industry, promising to boost sales at the expense of profit margins. Some companies have pushed for better service and more favorable terms than the 25% of a restaurant’s profit that delivery companies typically take for each order they deliver.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. is one of the largest chains to stay off the new third-party delivery apps altogether. The company relies on its own employees to make deliveries from its 6,000 U.S. stores and most of its 11,000 international ones, and it runs its own online-ordering app. Chief Executive Ritch Allison said the profit hit and reputational risk of working with delivery companies isn’t worth the extra sales.

“As profit is extracted from the industry, I think we’re going to see a lot of players really struggle,” Mr. Allison said in an interview.

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Send comments to the Risk & Compliance editor, Jack Hagel, at jack.hagel@wsj.com.