The Trump administration has confirmed plans to drop fraud and bribery charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, according to The New York Times reports. The Justice Department is expected to announce the dropping of charges as soon as the coming days, with the reversal stemming from Adani's hiring of a new legal team led by Robert J. Giuffra Jr., one of President Donald Trump's personal lawyers. The resolution comes after Adani offered to invest up to $20 billion in the United States if the charges were dropped during an April meeting with federal prosecutors, as reported by The New York Times. While the DOJ may dismiss the charges in the coming days, the billionaire is still expected to incur financial penalties, as reported by The New York Times.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has struck an $18 million deal to settle a parallel civil fraud case against Adani and others, with both agencies now preparing to settle their respective investigations. The SEC alleged that Gautam Adani spearheaded an effort to pay or promise hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian officials to induce them to enter contracts that Adani Green needed to develop India's largest solar power plant project. In 2024, the regulator had accused the Adanis of raising $750 million, including approximately $175 million from US investors, while allegedly misleading them about Adani Green Energy's compliance with anti-bribery laws. The proposed agreement, which does not include any admission or denial of the allegations, also bars the Adanis from future violations of key US anti-fraud laws covering investor deception, securities fraud and market manipulation.
In November 2024, the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn alleged in a five-count indictment that Adani and other defendants helped drive a $250 million bribery scheme in India to lock in solar-power contracts. According to the Justice Department allegations, Adani and others promised bribes to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts and concealed the plan as they sought to raise money from US investors. The Adani Group has consistently denied these charges, and none of the defendants, including Adani and his nephew Sagar, have appeared in court so far over the charges. As reported by Business Standard, while the Justice Department could effectively move to drop the charges with the defendants out of the country, a resolution to the SEC would likely involve a monetary penalty.
Ending these cases would clear the decks for the conglomerate to return to international capital markets and resume its aggressive expansion strategy. According to Business Standard, the market responded positively to the potential case resolution, with Adani Enterprises shares rallying 8.6% to ₹2,712.9 amid high volumes, marking the highest closing level since November 19, 2024. The stock formed a long bullish candlestick pattern on daily charts, trading well-above all key moving averages. The resolution would represent a significant milestone for Asia's richest person, who has been dealing with these fraud allegations for more than a year. The 63-year-old Adani is worth $82 billion, making him one of the world's richest people, as reported by Forbes.
