The ex-chief operating officer for New Jersey-based Fortune 200 company Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., a global tech services company accused of bribing government officials in India to fast-track a construction project, has reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Sridhar Thiruvengadam, who worked for Cognizant, headquartered in Teaneck, for more than two decades, agreed to pay a $50,000 civil penalty and cooperate with investigators as part of a settlement offer that the SEC accepted on Sept. 13.