SEC Charges Cognizant and Two Former Executives With FCPA Violations
Washington D.C., Feb. 15, 2019 —
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation
has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA),
two of the company’s former executives were charged for their roles in facilitating the payment of millions of dollars in a bribe to an Indian government official.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s complaint alleges that in 2014,
a senior government official of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu demanded a $2 million bribe from the construction firm responsible for building Cognizant’s 2.7 million square foot campus in Chennai, India.
As alleged in the complaint,
Cognizant’s President Gordon Coburn
Chief Legal Officer Steven E. Schwartz authorized the contractor to pay the bribe,
directed their subordinates to conceal the bribe by doctoring the contractor’s change orders.
The SEC also alleges that Cognizant authorized the construction firm to make two additional bribes totaling more than $1.6 million.
SEC.gov