A US federal court has permanently dismissed the criminal charges against Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and former Adani Green Energy CEO Vneet Jaain, bringing an end to the nearly two-year-old bribery and fraud case.
Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York approved the Justice Department’s request under Rule 48(a) to dismiss the indictment with prejudice. This means the charges cannot be brought again.
The case involved allegations of securities-fraud conspiracy, wire-fraud conspiracy and securities fraud.
The criminal proceedings began in November 2024, when US prosecutors accused Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, Vneet Jaain and others of being involved in an alleged scheme to pay around USD 250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar power contracts.
Prosecutors had alleged that the contracts were expected to generate more than USD 2 billion in after-tax profits over two decades. They also accused the defendants of misleading investors while raising more than USD 3 billion through loans and bond offerings in the US.
The Adani Group had consistently rejected the allegations and maintained that it had complied with applicable laws and regulatory requirements.
The US Department of Justice told the court that continuing the prosecution was no longer in the interests of justice. It cited jurisdictional and evidentiary difficulties, the fact that the alleged conduct largely took place in India, previous scrutiny of the matter by Indian authorities and the absence of identified investor losses.
The DOJ also argued that the case had little realistic prospect of reaching trial and alleged that the indictment had been used as a politically motivated “name and shame” exercise by the previous administration.
Before approving the dismissal, Judge Garaufis sought further explanations from prosecutors and required the defendants to submit sworn declarations confirming that there had been no promise, offer, quid pro quo or undisclosed agreement connected with the government's decision to drop the case.
Gautam Adani, in his declaration, denied that any such arrangement existed.
After considering the government's submissions and the sworn declarations, the judge approved the dismissal.
The court noted that the government had established a sufficient basis for dismissal on one ground relating to statements concerning Adani Green Energy's anti-bribery policies and corporate compliance.
The court observed that such statements could potentially be considered broad corporate assurances, or “inactionable puffery”, which investors could not reasonably rely upon.
The judge found it unnecessary to decide several of the government's other arguments after concluding that this ground was sufficient to support dismissal.
The court did not, however, make any finding that the underlying bribery allegations were true or false.
The dismissal brings the criminal proceedings to an end before trial. No witnesses were examined, the evidence was not tested in court and there was no judicial determination on the underlying criminal allegations.
The court also noted that its role in reviewing a federal prosecutor's decision to discontinue a criminal case was limited.
A separate civil action brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also been resolved through a final judgment against Gautam Adani. Under that order, Adani consented to the judgment without admitting the allegations and agreed to pay a USD 6 million civil penalty within 30 days.
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