Alina Habba wins bid to drop foreign bribery case citing Trump EO after judge refused pause
WASHINGTON — New Jersey acting US Attorney Alina Habba secured a decision dropping a long-running foreign bribery case Wednesday — after a federal judge initially refused to pause proceedings pursuant to President Trump’s executive order halting Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement.“After consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, the Government hereby moves to dismiss this matter,” Habba said in a court filing Wednesday.“The Government’s motion is based on the recent assessment of the Executive Order’s application to this matter.”Newark US District Judge Michael Farbiarz refused a request by Habba’s short-tenured predecessor, John Giordano, for a six-month delay in a case involving alleged bribery in India — and instead ordered prosecutors to choose between an April 7 trial date and a motion to dismiss.Farbiarz, a nominee of former President Joe Biden, agreed to Habba’s motion to dismiss in a brief ruling Thursday — instead of ordering an additional review, as occurred recently when federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.“The motion is granted,” Farbiarz wrote.Although a clash between the judge and Habba was avoided in this case, he’s a central figure in another major legal struggle over Trump’s policies due to his role overseeing the Trump administration’s attempt to deport former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil for anti-Israel activism.Farbiarz on Tuesday declined to grant the Trump administration’s request to transfer that case to Louisiana, where Khalil is jailed.The bribery case dismissed Thursday was brought in 2019 against two executives at Teaneck, NJ-based technology outsourcing company Cognizant who allegedly authorized $3.6 million in bribes to an Indian official to facilitate construction of a large office complex in Chennai.Cognizant’s then-president Gordon Coburn and then-chief legal officer Steven Schwartz faced criminal char...