By Richard Vanderford

Two former Cognizant Technology Solutions executives charged over an alleged foreign bribery scheme may not go on trial as planned this month, as the U.S. Justice Department grapples with President Trump's upending enforcement of a key U.S. anticorruption law.

John Giordano, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, asked a judge Tuesday to put the trial of Gordon Coburn and Steven Schwartz on hold for 180 days while he weighs how to apply a Trump executive order pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

"I appreciate the inconvenience this may cause," Giordano said.

The judge in the case didn't indicate whether he would grant the request and asked prosecutors for information on how a delay might affect the defendants' rights to a speedy trial.

Jury selection was pushed from Wednesday to March 17 because of what the judge described as a medical issue.

A lawyer for Coburn and a Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment. A lawyer for Schwartz didn't respond to a request for comment.

The last-minute move by the Justice Department adds to confusion over how the U.S. intends to enforce the FCPA, one of the most important corporate crime statutes.

Coburn, Cognizant's former president, and Schwartz, its former chief legal officer, face charges of involvement in an alleged scheme to pay bribes in India, where the Teaneck, N.J.-based company maintains a large presence. Prosecutors have accused the two of authorizing a $2 million payment meant to secure a permit for the construction of a Cognizant office campus.

Trump in his order, issued last month, said the U.S. had enforced the FCPA in an "overexpansive and unpredictable" way, targeting "routine business practices."

The order put a halt to new FCPA probes and charges and directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to review existing cases.

Businesses and their advisers are trying to understand how to respond to the freeze on FCPA enforcement. Because Trump's order could be reversed by a future administration, many FCPA experts advise businesses to operate their compliance programs as though the law were still in place.

"FCPA enforcement could resume at any point and...having effective anticorruption controls is good for business," said James Tillen, co-lead of the FCPA and international anticorruption practice at the law firm Miller & Chevalier. "It helps reduce fraud and waste, in addition to preventing corruption."

Write to Richard Vanderford at Richard.Vanderford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 04, 2025 16:28 ET (21:28 GMT)

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