This site has long followed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action against former Cognizant Technology Solutions executives Gordon Coburn and Steven Schwartz. As noted in this 2019 post, “if the defendants choose to put the DOJ/SEC to its burden of proof, disputed issues will likely focus on corrupt intent, obtain or retain business and the facilitating payments exception.”
The trial has been delayed several times for a variety of reasons. In August 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Farbiarz (D.N.J.) adjourned the trial yet again to March 2025 “to preserve the integrity of the truth-seeking process” due to foreign evidence / witness issues. (See here for the prior post).
On February 10th, President Trump signed an Executive Order Titled “Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security.”
Among other things, the EO stated that for a “period of 180 days” the Attorney General shall:
(i) cease initiation of any new FCPA investigations or enforcement actions, unless the Attorney General determines that an individual exception should be made; and
(ii) review in detail all existing FCPA investigations or enforcement actions and take appropriate action with respect to such matters to restore proper bounds on FCPA enforcement and preserve Presidential foreign policy prerogatives.
Earlier today, the DOJ filed the below document in the Coburn / Schwartz matter.
In response, defense counsel filed the below document with the court.
