US Judge Throws Out Fraud and Bribery Case Against Indian Billionaire Gautam Adani
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis dismissed criminal charges against Gautam Adani after the Justice Department decided to drop the fraud and bribery case.
Federal prosecutors in May said they were abandoning a criminal case that accused Indian billionaire Gautam Adani of bribing Indian officials to obtain approval for a solar-energy project and of deceiving U.S. investors regarding his company's anti-corruption record. On Monday, Brooklyn-based U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis granted the government's request to dismiss the charges, after probing the prosecutors' rationale and asking whether any promise had been made in exchange for the withdrawal.
The decision follows Adani's November 2024 announcement that he would invest $10 billion in the United States. The case, filed in 2024, alleged that a subsidiary of the Adani Group sought the bribe to win the plant permit. The Adani Group has repeatedly asserted that it did nothing illegal.
Adani himself has not appeared in U.S. court to contest the accusations. Legal analysts note that while judges have limited power to force prosecutors to continue a case, dismissal still requires judicial approval.
Why it matters
The dismissal highlights limits on U.S. prosecution of high-profile foreign business figures and may affect future investment commitments.
In this story