US prosecutors have asked a judge to dismiss criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani over allegations linked to a major solar power deal in India. The Department of Justice said it is no longer pursuing the case, with Adan
US prosecutors have asked a judge to drop criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who was accused of misleading investors in a major solar energy project in India.
In a court filing. prosecutors said the Department of Justice had reviewed the case and decided. in its “prosecutorial discretion”. not to devote further resources to the charges against individual defendants.. Judge Nicholas Garaufis must still approve the request.. Lawyers for Adani and his co-defendants consented to the move, prosecutors said.
The case had been centred on allegations that Adani. one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. bribed officials to help secure contracts for a lucrative agreement involving Adani Green Energy Ltd and another company to supply 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government.. Prosecutors in New York charged him in 2024 with conspiracy. securities fraud and wire fraud. describing a solar deal intended to “illuminate millions of homes and businesses”.. Adani’s group denied the claims at the time. calling them baseless and saying they had not been established in any way.
Adani was never arrested in the case and was not brought to the United States to face trial. Some people in India had expected the matter 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 decision to end the criminal case arrives after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it was settling a related lawsuit against Adani.
The move to drop criminal charges is now set to hinge on Garaufis’s approval, with prosecutors pointing to their decision not to pursue the matter further and Adani’s side agreeing to the request.
Adani’s background has long been tied to India’s political and economic landscape.. He built his fortune in the coal business in the 1990s and later saw the Adani Group broaden into areas including renewable energy. defence and agriculture.. The company says its clean energy portfolio includes one of the world’s largest solar power plants. and it has set a target of becoming India’s biggest player in the sector by 2030.. Adani has been described as having close ties with India’s government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. a relationship his critics say helped him win contracts and secure preferential treatment—claims the group has denied.
Short-seller Hindenburg Research. a U.S.-based financial research firm. has accused Adani and his companies of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud”.. The Adani Group responded by saying those allegations were “a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale. baseless and discredited allegations.”
When prosecutors charged Adani in 2024. they alleged he and others played “two sides” of the solar deal—encouraging investors on Wall Street with a “rosy portrayal” to pour several billion dollars into the project over five years. while offering $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure lucrative contracts.
After the case was announced, Kenya’s president cancelled 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.
The pattern across the case is that criminal charges were brought in 2024 over the solar agreement. the Adani Group denied the allegations. and then later steps in the U.S.. shifted direction: first enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was suspended by Donald Trump. and then prosecutors asked for the criminal case to end after the DOJ reviewed it. while the SEC moved to settle a related lawsuit.
With Garaufis yet to rule, the outcome will determine whether the criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Adani and his co-defendants are formally dismissed.
Gautam Adani US prosecutors Nicholas Garaufis DOJ criminal charges solar power deal Adani Green Energy Foreign Corrupt Practices Act SEC settlement