The Securities and Exchange Commission recently moved to restore its civil Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) case against Gordon Coburn and Steven Schwartz, two former executives of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, a global provider of information technology and business process services. The two are accused of approving a $2 million bribe payment to a senior government official in India. In a joint motion filed on April 10, 2025, the SEC and the defendants asked the court to restore the case and issue a stay to enable the parties to explore a possible resolution. The petition was made a week after a federal judge in the District of New Jersey granted the Department of Justice’s motion to dismiss with prejudice the criminal FCPA case against Coburn and Schwartz. The DOJ moved to dismiss following a “recent assessment” conducted pursuant to President Donald Trump’s executive order issued on February 10. That order paused all FCPA enforcement actions for a period of up to 180 days so that such matters could be “review[ed] in detail” and the DOJ could “take appropriate action with respect to such matters to restore proper bounds on FCPA enforcement and preserve Presidential foreign policy prerogatives.”
In 2019, the SEC charged Coburn, Cognizant’s former president, and Schwartz, its former chief legal officer, with violating the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA, aiding and abetting Cognizant’s alleged FCPA violations, violating the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA, and making false or misleading statements to Cognizant’s outside auditor. According to the SEC’s complaint, the defendants authorized a contractor to pay a $2 million bribe in order to obtain a planning permit that would enable the construction and occupancy of Cognizant’s campus facility in India without delay. The defendants also allegedly attempted to conceal the bribe payments by having their subordinates doctor the contractor’s change orders.
Cognizant settled its FCPA enforcement matter with the SEC at the time the SEC charged Coburn and Schwartz. The SEC accused Cognizant of paying over $3.6 million in bribe payments to obtain government permits, including the $2 million payment discussed above, in violation of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the FCPA. Cognizant agreed to pay about $25 million to resolve the matter without admitting or denying the allegations. The payment included approximately $16.4 million in disgorgement, $2.8 million in prejudgment interest, and a $6 million civil penalty. At the same time, the DOJ declined to bring an enforcement action against Cognizant in exchange for its agreement to pay approximately $19.4 million in disgorgement to the DOJ (reduced by the amount paid to the SEC) and Cognizant’s continuing cooperation in the DOJ’s related investigations and prosecutions.
Joint Motion to Restore and Stay | Order Granting Dismissal | Government’s Motion to Dismiss | SEC Litigation Release – February 15, 2019 | SEC Complaint