Judge grants US request to end foreign bribery case, following Trump executive order

By Jonathan Stempel and Sarah N. Lynch

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal judge agreed to let the U.S. Department of Justice end its prosecution of two former Cognizant Technology Solutions executives, the first time the department publicly abandoned a foreign bribery case since President Donald Trump halted enforcement of a key anti-bribery law.

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday dismissed the case against Gordon Coburn and Steven Schwartz, which began during Trump's first White House term, with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.

The dismissal came two days after Alina Habba, the acting U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, said the case should be dropped.

Habba, who also represented Trump in private practice, said her request followed consultation with Attorney General Pam Bondi's office, and reflected a "recent assessment" of Trump's executive order pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA").

Last month, Farbiarz rejected a request by Habba's predecessor John Giordano to delay the case by 180 days, and scheduled an April 7 trial. The judge cited the defendants' right to a speedy trial in the six-year-old case.

Cognizant is a Teaneck, New Jersey-based information technology and outsourcing company.

U.S. authorities charged Coburn and Schwartz in February 2019 with authorizing a $2 million bribe to an Indian official for help obtaining a construction permit for a new Cognizant office campus in Chennai.

Coburn and Schwartz pleaded not guilty. Cognizant agreed to pay $25.2 million to settle a related Securities and Exchange Commission civil case, which included an accusation the company authorized two additional bribes totaling $1.64 million.

James Loonam, a lawyer for Coburn, said in a statement: "We are grateful that we were able to convince DOJ of what we have long known: that this case never should have been brought."

Lawrence Lustberg, a lawyer for Schwartz, in a statement referring to his client said: "As we have maintained all along, he is innocent, and these charges should never have been brought."

Enacted in 1977, the FCPA prohibits companies that operate in the United States from bribing foreign officials.

Trump has called the FCPA a "horrible law," and when signing his executive order said ending enforcement would "mean a lot more business for America."

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Sarah N. Lynch in Washington, D.C.Editing by Marguerita Choy)