Ex-Cognizant Execs Challenge DOJ Corporate Cooperation Strategy

Two former Cognizant executives facing bribery charges are raising constitutional arguments in a New Jersey courthouse this week that could hinder how the Justice Department deals with cooperating companies in criminal investigations.

If they succeed in suppressing evidence by arguing that company attorneys were de facto prosecutors, the government may need to delineate boundaries more carefully when interacting with cooperating companies, white-collar lawyers say.

Defense attorneys across the US have been closely monitoring the case, heading into an evidentiary hearing scheduled to begin Tuesday in US District Court in Newark, N.J. The outcome could offer new avenues for individual ...