Credit: Atstock Productions/Shutterstock.comIndictment Charges NJ Tech Execs With Discussing Bribery Scheme During Video Conference Calls
The former chief legal officer and president of a New Jersey-based tech services company allegedly discussed a scheme to bribe government officials during video conference calls, according to an indictment filed in New Jersey federal court.
February 21, 2019 at 11:30 AM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Corporate Counsel
The former chief legal officer and president of a New Jersey-based tech services company allegedly discussed a scheme to bribe government officials during video conference calls, according to an indictment filed in New Jersey federal court.
Prosecutors allege that ex-CLO Steven Schwartz and former president Gordon Coburn of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. in Teaneck authorized a construction company to pay more than $3.6 million in bribes to secure a planning permit for a large campus in Chennai, India.
The payments allegedly fast-tracked the building project, allowing Cognizant to avoid costly delays and related expenses, which would have included paying to support thousands of India-based employees in different facilities, according to prosecutors.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Feb. 15 that New Jersey-based Cognizant had agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Now, Schwartz and Coburn are facing charges from the SEC and the Department of Justice, which alleges in the aforementioned 12-count indictment in U.S. District Court in New Jersey that the duo violated the FCPA, conspired to violate the FCPA, falsified books and records and circumvented or failed to implement internal accounting controls.
Roberto Finzi, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York, and Joel Myers, a partner at Bohrer PLLC in New York and a former state and federal prosecutor, are defending Schwartz.
Finzi has said that Schwartz “is totally innocent and did nothing wrong. He will fight these false and unfair charges.”
Coburn's attorney, Hank Walther, a former federal prosecutor and partner at Jones Day in Washington, D.C., said Wednesday in an emailed statement: “We are disappointed that DOJ and SEC chose to pursue these allegations. Mr. Coburn intends to vigorously fight all charges.”
The DOJ indictment alleges that Coburn and Schwartz participated in two video conference calls with a pair of unnamed co-conspirators in April 2014, when Coburn and Schwartz were told that the construction company in question had received a bribe demand from government officials in India.
Coburn, Schwartz and the co-conspirators allegedly “agreed during these calls that the construction company would pay the bribe, and that Cognizant would reimburse the construction company for the bribe payment.”
Based on their communications with the co-conspirators, which also included email exchanges, prosecutors allege that Coburn and Schwartz also knew that reimbursement for the bribe would be included in the amount that Cognizant agreed to pay the construction company. And they allegedly knew that a claims list for the construction company's expenses had been falsified in an attempt to conceal the illicit payment.
According to the DOJ and SEC, Schwartz and Coburn kept Cognizant's chief financial officer, CEO and auditor in the dark about the alleged bribery payments.
Schwartz allegedly gave Coburn approval to sign management representation letters between August 2014 and June 2016 in which Coburn falsely certified that he had no knowledge of fraud or any other violations at the company.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Appellate Division Greenlights State Bar's Leadership Diversity Initiatives
5 minute read
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
