US moving to end $265 million fraud cases against Gautam Adani: Report

The US Justice Department is reportedly set to drop criminal fraud and bribery charges against Gautam Adani linked to an alleged $265 million corruption scheme tied to India's largest solar power project, according to a Bloomberg report.

In Short

• Charges linked to $265 million bribery in solar power project
• Allegations included securities and wire fraud conspiracies
• SEC also moving to settle related civil fraud case

US authorities are moving to resolve fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, with the Justice Department likely to drop the criminal case linked to an alleged $265 million bribery and fraud scheme as early as this week, according to Bloomberg.

The development could bring relief to the Adani Group chairman more than a year after US prosecutors in New York accused him and other executives of orchestrating a multibillion-dollar corruption network tied to India’s largest solar power project.

According to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg, the US Justice Department is preparing to withdraw the charges, while the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also moving toward settling a parallel civil fraud case filed in November 2024 against Adani and others. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions remain confidential.

The New York Times separately reported that the reversal came after Gautam Adani hired a new legal team led by Robert J Giuffra Jr, one of US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers and co-chairman of the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell.

According to the report, Giuffra held a previously unreported meeting last month at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, where he presented nearly 100 slides arguing that prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence and jurisdiction to pursue the case.

The New York Times report also said one slide included an offer that Adani would invest $10 billion in the American economy and create 15,000 jobs if prosecutors dropped the charges, echoing an investment commitment he had announced after Trump’s election victory.

The report added that Giuffra also sought to resolve a parallel SEC civil case and a separate Treasury Department investigation during the same meeting. According to people familiar with the discussions cited by the newspaper, both agencies are now preparing settlements that could include financial penalties against Adani.

The report further said prosecutors later informed Giuffra that the proposed investment would not influence the criminal case resolution, though at least one senior Justice Department official reacted favourably to the offer during the meeting.

The charges stemmed from an indictment announced by US prosecutors in November 2024, in which Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and several others were accused of participating in a bribery scheme involving about $265 million in payments to Indian government officials. Prosecutors alleged the payments were made to secure contracts expected to generate nearly $2 billion in profits over two decades and support the development of India’s largest solar power plant project.

US authorities also alleged that Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and former Adani Green Energy CEO Vneet Jaain raised more than $3 billion through loans and bond offerings while concealing details of the alleged corruption from lenders and investors. Prosecutors charged the three with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy, while the Adanis also faced an SEC civil case.

According to the indictment, some conspirators privately referred to Gautam Adani using code names such as “Numero uno” and “the big man.” Prosecutors further alleged that Sagar Adani used his cellphone to track details related to the bribe payments.

The remaining defendants included former Azure Power Global executives Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, along with executives linked to Canadian institutional investor Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec. Among them was Cyril Cabanes, a dual French-Australian citizen living in Singapore, who also faced SEC charges. Prosecutors said all other defendants were Indian citizens.

Adani founded the Adani Group in 1988 as a commodities trading business after dropping out of school at age 16 in Gujarat. Over the decades, he expanded the conglomerate into ports, airports, mining, power generation, transmission and logistics, building one of India’s largest infrastructure empires.

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