Business news in brief

The Philadelphia Bar Association, which represents 13,000 lawyers in the region, said Friday that its executive director, Kenneth Shear, will retire Dec. 31. Shear, 67, has been executive director since December 1976. - Chris Mondics

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the rating on Albert Einstein Healthcare Network and its bonds to Baa2 from Baa1 on the eve of the Saturday opening of the Philadelphia hospital group's new suburban hospital in East Norriton Township, Montgomery County. The rating leaves Einstein just two notches above junk-bond status. The rating affects $133 million of outstanding bonds, issued with backing from the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority. - Joseph N. DiStefano

A North Wales salesman for medical device manufacturer Orthofix Inc., was charged with health-care fraud after the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia accused him of changing medical records before submitting them for reimbursement through Medicare. Brian Racey, 42, submitted $250,000 in claims related to a bone stimulator that did not meet Medicare guidelines, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. Racey could not be reached for comment. - David Sell

NBCUniversal Media L.L.C., the media and entertainment company, sold $2 billion of debt in two parts in its first offering in more than a year. NBCUniversal, which is 51 percent owned by Comcast Corp. of Philadelphia, sold $1 billion of 2.875 percent notes maturing in January 2023, and $1 billion of 4.45 percent bonds due January 2043. Proceeds will be used to increase working capital and for general corporate purposes, according to a person familiar with the offering. - Bloomberg News

U.S. banks have been buffeted by more than week of powerful cyberattacks whose perpetrators remained unknown. A series of financial institutions have experienced disruptions after their sites were overwhelmed by unusually high amounts of traffic. An expert said the cyber assaults weren't sophisticated but they ranked among the largest he had ever seen. Mike Smith, with Web security company Akamai, said that the attacks delivered about three times the amount of traffic typically used by criminals to jam e-commerce websites. Responsibility for online attacks is difficult to prove, but speculation has focused on an Internet posting suggesting that Islamists were taking revenge for an anti-Muslim film that has sparked violent protests across the Middle East. - AP