US DOJ Drops All Criminal Charges Against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani in New York Fraud Case

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has permanently dropped all criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, bringing a major securities and wire fraud case in New York to a complete close.

In a filing before a federal court in the Eastern District of New York, the DOJ said it had decided not to devote further prosecutorial resources to the case. The court subsequently dismissed the indictment “with prejudice”, meaning the case cannot be reopened in the future.

The development marks the end of multiple legal and regulatory investigations in the United States involving the Adani Group over the past few days.

Why Did the US Drop the Charges?

According to people familiar with the matter, prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence and no clear US jurisdictional linkage strong enough to sustain the allegations.

The original cases, filed in late 2024 by the DOJ and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), alleged that Gautam Adani and others were involved in a $265 million bribery scheme linked to solar energy contracts in India and had concealed details from US investors while raising funds.

However, Adani’s legal team argued that the allegations amounted to an “impermissibly extraterritorial application” of US securities laws because the accused, companies and alleged conduct were all based in India.

Court submissions by the defence stated that the securities involved were not traded on US exchanges and claimed there was no investor loss linked to the transactions.

SEC, Treasury Cases Also Settled

The dismissal comes shortly after the SEC settled civil allegations against Gautam and Sagar Adani over investor disclosures related to Indian solar energy projects.

Court filings showed Gautam Adani agreed to pay $6 million and Sagar Adani $12 million as part of the settlement, without admitting or denying wrongdoing.

Separately, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) settled allegations involving alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran linked to LPG imports. The Adani Group reportedly agreed to pay $275 million while cooperating with investigators.

Massive Legal Push by Adani Team

The case saw aggressive legal challenges mounted by a team of prominent American law firms, including Sullivan & Cromwell, Nixon Peabody, Hecker Fink, Norton Rose Fulbright and Bracewell.

The defence argued that US authorities lacked jurisdiction and that prosecutors had attempted to convert unproven bribery allegations into securities fraud charges.

Legal experts had increasingly questioned whether US prosecutors had stretched securities laws to pursue conduct that was primarily centred outside the United States.

Notably, Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain were charged only under securities and wire fraud statutes and were not named in the more serious Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) bribery charges brought against other defendants in the wider investigation.