The US government will settle a lawsuit filed against Gautam Adani, one of the world's richest people, for hiding an alleged bribery scheme. It's just one of the cases Adani faces in US courts.
International media reported that the Department of Justice was also close to dropping related criminal charges of fraud against Adani.
Court documents show that Gautam Adani agreed to pay civil penalties of $6 million (€5.2 million), while his nephew Sagar Adani, another leader at Adani Green Energy, agreed to pay $12 million. The proposed settlement doesn’t include an admission of guilt.
This comes after The New York Times reported that the US SEC and Department of Justice were close to dropping their charges against Adani while implementing financial penalties and receiving a pledge to invest $10 billion in the United States.
US prosecutors brought the charges against Adani in 2024 under former US President Joe Biden's administration.
A close acolyte of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi , Adani has not faced related investigations in India despite the US charges largely being about bribes allegedly paid to Indian officials to win a lucrative solar contract in India.
Even so, Adani took a hit after his stocks crashed up to 23% on news of the charges in 2024.
Why are the charges against Adani being dropped?
US prosecutors moved to drop the charges against Adani soon after he hired a new set of lawyers led by Ribert Giuffra, one of US President Donald Trump's personal lawyers, the Times reported, citing multiple unnamed sources with knowledge of the case.
The report said that in a meeting between defense lawyers and prosecutors in April, Giuffra ticked through over 100 slides presenting why prosecutors lacked basic evidence against Adani and the jurisdiction to bring such a case against him.
One such slide offered that if prosecutors were to drop their charges against Adani, the Indian billionaire would invest $10 billion in the US and create 15,000 jobs. This offer echoed a previous one Adani had made in a social media post after Trump won the presidential elections in November 2024.
"As the partnership between India and the United States deepens, the Adani Group is committed to leveraging its global expertise and invest $10 billion in US energy security and resilient infrastructure projects, aiming to create up to 15,000 Jobs," he had said then, congratulating Trump.
The Times reported that prosecutors later told Adani's lawyers the offer would play no role in resolving the charges. But the slide had elicited at least one favorable response from a senior Justice Department official at the meeting.
A US Treasury Department investigation into Adani companies, for allegedly shipping Iranian gas in violation of US sanctions, will likely also be settled for a separate financial penalty, according to the report.
Edited by: Sean Sinico Advertisement
