U.S. prosecutors drop fraud charges against billionaire Indian businessman Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani, Indian billionaire and chairman of Adani Group, presides over the 51st Gems and Jewelry awards function in Jaipur, India, on Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

NEW YORK — U.S. prosecutors asked a judge Monday to dismiss criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who had been accused of duping Wall Street investors who poured billions of dollars into a massive solar project in India.

Adani, one of the world’s richest people, was accused in 2024 of paying massive bribes to ensure the project’s success. He was indicted in federal court in Brooklyn on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud charges in connection with a lucrative arrangement for Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government to light millions of homes and businesses.

• READ MORE: India’s Adani says his group is committed to compliance after U.S. bribery and fraud charges

The Adani Group denied the allegations at the time, calling them baseless.

“The Department of Justice has reviewed this case and has decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

The filing bore the names of Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter and Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr.

Judge Nicholas Garaufis must still approve the request.

Lawyers for Adani and his co-defendants consented to the request, prosecutors said.

Adani’s lawyer, Robert Giuffra, declined to comment. Lawyers Timothy Sini and Sean Hecker, who represent Adani’s nephew and co-defendant Sagar Adani, also declined comment.

Adani was never arrested in the case or brought to the U.S. to face trial and some in India long expected the case would be shelved after President Donald Trump last year suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. law banning business bribes overseas.

The move to drop the charges comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it was settling a related lawsuit against Adani.

Adani built his fortune in the coal business in the 1990s and, over time, the Adani Group embraced a diverse portfolio, investing in industries like renewable energy, defense and agriculture.

The company amassed a clean energy portfolio that included one of the world’s largest solar power plants, and had set a goal of becoming the country’s biggest player in the space by 2030. Adani had close ties with India’s government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But the company also had its critics.

Short-seller Hindenburg Research, a U.S.-based financial research firm, has accused Adani and his company of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud.” The Adani Group labeled the claims “a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations.”

When they charged Adani in 2024, U.S. prosecutors in New York said he and others played two sides of the solar deal, enticing investors with a rosy portrayal that the project was above board while offering US$265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure lucrative contracts.

After the case was announced, Kenya’s president canceled multimillion-dollar airport expansion and energy deals with Adani. Adani Green Energy withdrew its wind energy projects from Sri Lanka after the country sought to renegotiate prices, while a French oil giant also paused new investments.

Analysts say a key factor in Adani’s meteoric rise over the years has been his knack for aligning his group’s priorities with those of the Modi government. His critics accuse him of crony capitalism and of gaining preferential treatment from the government, including in winning contracts, which the group has denied.

Michael R. Sisak And Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press