Editing Cognos (section)

==Federal investigation==
In August 2007, the Massachusetts state Information Technology Division awarded Cognos a $13 million [[USD]] contract for performance management software. This followed a 2006 $4.5 million [[USD]] state contract awarded to Cognos by the [[Massachusetts Department of Education]]. These contracts came under scrutiny from the State Ethics Commission and the office of state [[Inspector General#United States|Inspector General]] Gregory Sullivan when several conflicts of interest surrounding [[Speaker (politics)|Speaker]] of the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives]] [[Salvatore DiMasi]] and his accountant Richard Vitale came to light.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

In the course of these investigations, a payoff from former Cognos sales executive [[Joseph Lally]] in the amount of $600,000 [[USD]] was found to have been made to Vitale's company [[WN Advisors]]. Vitale and WN Advisors were not registered as state lobbyists and did not disclose the payments, the bulk of which were apparently made on the same day that the state wired funds for the multimillion-dollar contracts to Cognos. The disposition of the funds has not been disclosed and the State has rescinded the contracts. IBM, who now owns Cognos, has refunded the improperly awarded $13 million [[USD]] paid to Cognos.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/03/10/software_contract_called_improper/ |title=Software contract called improper |date=March 10, 2008 |last=Estes |first=Andrea |work=The Boston Globe}}</ref>  A second close associate of DiMasi's, lawyer Steven Topazio, was placed on a two-year $5,000 a month retainer for unspecified purposes. This retainer stopped the same month as the second Cognos contract was awarded.<ref>[http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/12/17/cognos_deals_face_federal_scrutiny/ Cognos Deals Face Federal Scrutiny] December 17, 2008</ref>

In addition to the payoffs made to close associates of DiMasi, it is known that Vitale helped arrange a below-market mortgage for DiMasi, which violated state Ethics laws.

On December 17, 2008, ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' confirmed that the State investigations were being joined by a Federal [[Grand Jury]] probe investigating the allegations and potential violations of Federal law.  On June 2, 2009, DiMasi, Vitale, Lally, and Cognos lobbyist [[Richard McDonough]] were indicted "on a battery of...corruption charges" as a result of that probe.<ref>[http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/03/dimasi_three_associates_indicted_on_state_contract_rigging_charges/ DiMasi, 3 associates charged with rigging of state contracts] June 3, 2009</ref>