New Jersey Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba secured the dismissal of a long-running foreign bribery case on Wednesday, following a federal judge’s initial refusal to pause the proceedings by President Trump’s executive order halting enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
The case, filed in 2019, targeted two executives from Teaneck, NJ-based technology outsourcing firm Cognizant, who were accused of authorizing bribes to an Indian official to expedite the construction of a major office complex in Chennai, the New York Post reported.
“After consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, the Government hereby moves to dismiss this matter,” Habba said in a court filing last week. “The Government’s motion is based on the recent assessment of the Executive Order’s application to this matter.”
U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark rejected a request from Habba’s short-term predecessor, John Giordano, for a six-month delay under President Trump’s executive order. Instead, the judge gave prosecutors a choice: proceed with the trial as scheduled on April 7 or file a motion to dismiss the case.
Farbiarz, a nominee of former President Joe Biden, granted Habba’s motion to dismiss in a brief ruling on Thursday—foregoing the additional review that was recently ordered when federal prosecutors sought to dismiss the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“The motion is granted,” Farbiarz wrote in his ruling, per The Post.
Although the judge avoided a conflict with Habba in this instance, he remains a central figure in another significant legal battle over Trump’s policies. This other case involves his oversight of the administration’s attempt to deport former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil for his anti-Israel activism.
On Tuesday, Farbiarz declined the Trump administration’s request to transfer that case to Louisiana, where Khalil is currently incarcerated.
The case dismissed Thursday had been pending against Cognizant’s then-president, Gordon Coburn, and then-chief legal officer, Steven Schwartz.
Last month, Judge Farbiarz denied a request for a trial delay, relying on a commitment from Biden holdover acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna—issued 11 days after Trump’s February 10 order—that “the Government intends to proceed to trial” despite the 180-day pause ordered by the president.
Khanna, who is the brother of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), remained acting U.S. Attorney until March 2, serving for more than a month into Trump’s term.
In 2019, Cognizant agreed to pay $25 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint alleging bribery of a Tamil Nadu state official, following an initial $2 million payment in 2014. Trump has expressed sympathy for the implicated businessmen and denounced the FCPA as an obstacle to international commerce.
“It sounds so good, but it’s so bad. It hurts the country, and many, many deals are unable to be made because of it,” Trump said in February as he signed the order freezing enforcement of the FCPA.
“Nobody wants to do business because they don’t want to feel like every time they pick up a phone, they’re going to jail. So, we’ll sign this, and it takes courage to sign it because you only get bad publicity when you sign it. It sounds so nice,” he added.
Habba initially began her stint with the Trump administration as counselor to the president before he named her acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, which is her home state.
During an interview on “America Reports” last month before being named to her new post, Habba spoke with co-host John Roberts and Sandra Smith about the president’s first month back in the White House and what to expect as his first 100 days in office rounds out.
“There was a mandate. It was on November 5th and we swept the country, and that’s because they weren’t OK with what the last administration did,” she said. “So, the mandate does not come from the legislative history; it comes from the American people who voted for President Trump and his America First agenda.
“And that is what we’re going to do. And that is what we are doing, exactly what Americans voted for, and we are going to continue to do that,” she added.
