US drops – The US Department of Justice has asked a judge to dismiss criminal fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani after Adani pledged a $10bn investment in the United States. The case, originally filed under President Joe Biden’s administration, accused
By the time the US Department of Justice put its request in writing, the fight had already been framed around a simple accusation: that Gautam Adani’s rise in solar power came with bribery and deception.
On May 18, 2026, the Trump administration’s Justice Department moved to dismiss criminal fraud charges against the Indian billionaire—an abrupt turn that came after Adani pledged a $10bn investment in the United States.
In a short letter sent to Judge Nicholas Garaufis at the US District Court in the Eastern District of New York. the DOJ said it had reviewed the case and decided. in its prosecutorial discretion. not to devote further resources to the criminal charges against the individual defendants.. The request still requires a judge’s signature.
The underlying allegations are stark.. The case—originally brought by the DOJ under the administration of former US President Joe Biden—accused Adani of bribing Indian officials. with payments alleged to be as much as $265m. to secure contracts.. It also accused him and other defendants of lying to US investors to secure a solar energy project in India. allegations Adani’s company has long denied.
Prosecutors previously described a far-reaching scheme.. Breon Peace. then US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. said in the case that the defendants “orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars” and that Gautam S Adani. Sagar R Adani and Vneet S Jaain lied “as they sought to raise capital from US and international investors.”
The criminal case also centered on Adani Green Energy.. It was accused of bribing officials to win a contract to build what prosecutors said would be the largest solar power plant in India.. The government further alleged that Adani and his co-conspirators misled investors by providing information about the company’s anti-corruption practices.. Prosecutors said the group raised more than $3bn in the process.
The dismissal request lands amid shifting legal circumstances around Adani. Adani’s legal team has changed in recent weeks, and the pledge that helped drive the DOJ’s decision was part of that new posture.
The billionaire. described as the 17th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $108bn according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. appointed Robert J Giuffra Jr to his legal team.. Giuffra Jr has also been described as one of US President Donald Trump’s personal attorneys. according to reporting from The New York Times last week.
Giuffra Jr said, according to The New York Times, that Adani would pledge an investment of $10bn in the US, which the newspaper reported would bring in 15,000 jobs. He also stressed, as reported by the paper, that the billionaire denied the allegations.
Adani framed the timing in a similar way, saying he wanted to invest in the United States but “could not do so while the cases proceeded,” as cited by the Reuters news agency using unnamed sources familiar with the case.
Not long after that criminal case was being reconsidered, other legal matters tied to Adani have continued moving.
On Monday, the US Department of the Treasury announced a $275m settlement with Adani over alleged sanctions violations involving Iran.. The company was accused of buying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from a Dubai-based trader that purported to supply Omani and Iraqi gas but. prosecutors said. originated from Iran.
Adani Enterprises, according to the same reporting, has ceased imports of LPG into India and created a head of compliance role to ensure it follows US Treasury Department guidance.
The Securities and Exchange Commission also settled a civil suit with Adani last week over alleged bribes. though the agreement still needs legal approval.. In a statement released on Thursday. the SEC said that if approved by the court. it would order Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani to pay civil monetary penalties of $6. 000. 000 and $12. 000. 000. respectively.
Adani did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
Even as the DOJ seeks to shut the criminal case. the sequence of penalties and settlements leaves a clear question hanging over what comes next: criminal dismissal may end one track. but the legal pressure surrounding Adani—bribery allegations in the civil realm and sanctions violations tied to Iran—does not disappear just because a judge is asked to stop a prosecution.
Gautam Adani Adani Green Energy US Department of Justice fraud charges dismissed $10bn investment Nicholas Garaufis Eastern District of New York bribery allegations solar contracts SEC settlement $275m Treasury settlement Iran sanctions LPG imports
So they just dropped it because he promised $10bn? That sounds like paying to get out of trouble.
I don’t get it, the whole thing was bribery and lying to investors and now suddenly “prosecutorial discretion.” Like what, morals on a sliding scale? Either it’s fraud or it’s not.
Wait so Biden filed it and now Trump is dropping it right after the money pledge? Seems like they’re just changing the script depending on who’s in office. Also solar companies always seem shady to me, idk.
This is why people don’t trust the system. If you can throw around $10 billion then charges disappear… even if they said $265m bribes and all that. I swear it’s like a trade, not justice. But maybe the judge will still deny it, right? I feel like nobody’s reading the fine print on this.