US SEC bribery-linked lawsuit against Adani clears key procedural barrier
After more than a year of evading, Billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, have agreed to receive a legal notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a civil fraud lawsuit alleging they misled investors about a bribery scheme, according to a court filing. The stipulation is subject to court approval.
In a filing in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, the SEC and US-based lawyers for Gautam and Sagar Adani said the lawyers had agreed to accept service of the regulator’s legal papers, removing the need for a judge to rule on how the defendants should be served. The joint application (or stipulation) has been submitted for approval from the concerned Court. This is a standard procedural step in US legal proceedings that allows for the orderly resolution of cases.
If agreed by the judge, the joint application will allow the SEC matter to progress while giving time to the Adanis to either file their motion to dismiss or their defence within 90 days. The SEC thereafter can file their opposition within a further period of 60 days. The Defendants can file their replies to such opposition within 45 days. The SEC had filed a lawsuit in November 2024 alleging that the two violated US securities laws by making false and misleading representations about Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL).
In addition to the SEC’s civil complaint, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, have charged the Adanis and others with allegedly helping to drive a USD 265 million bribery scheme in India to secure solar power contracts. Both lawsuits have been stalled for more than a year as both Adanis remain in India and couldn’t be served the notices. Last week, the SEC asked a US judge to allow alternative methods to notify them of the suit, including service by email and through other US law firms representing the Adanis.
AGEL, the renewable energy arm of the ports-to-cement conglomerate Gautam Adani leads, in a stock exchange filing, said the defendants – Gautam and Sagar Adani – agreeing to accept the notice is a procedural step, and they would seek dismissal of the SEC’s complaint or file responsive pleadings. “We understand that on January 30, 2026, Counsel for Defendants filed an application agreeing to accept service on behalf of the Defendants without accepting the jurisdiction of the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) and reserving all defences the Defendants may raise, including as to jurisdiction,” it said.
Adani has hired a prominent Wall Street lawyer, Robert Giuffra Jr, who also counts US President Donald Trump among his clients, to defend him in the case. Robert Giuffra Jr, co-chair of white-shoe law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, told a federal judge that he reached an agreement to accept the lawsuit on behalf of Gautam and Sagar Adani.
The a joint filing made by the Defendants and SEC in the Eastern District Court of New York, said the SEC on February 17, 2025, “submitted a formal request to India’s Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs for assistance under the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters but service on the Defendants has not yet been effected.”
In the earlier hearing, the SEC informed the court that India’s Law Ministry refused to deliver the summons to Adani and sought approval to deliver the summons through email.
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