US court clears Adani
A United States court has closed criminal charges against Indian industrialist Gautam Adani and two other executives. Judge Nicholas G Garaufis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on August 11 accepted the proposal of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to dismiss all three charges brought against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain – securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and securities fraud.
Judge Garaufis expressed concern about the manner in which the DOJ made the proposal and termed it “highly unusual“. “The fact that McCotter came to this decision largely in collaboration with defense counsel, and seemingly without input from the FBI and SEC agents who investigated the alleged misconduct, or the attorneys from the Department, SEC, and US Attorney’s Office who brought the case, appears to be highly unusual,” the order said.
The Court’s decision to drop charges comes after multiple affidavits were filed by Adani and the DOJ over two months. In May 2026, Adani and his nephew paid a$18 million finein the civil case, without admitting guilt. The Court, however, reserved its decision on DOJ’s request to dismiss the FCPA conspiracy charge against Ranjit Gupta, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal, as well as the obstruction charge against all of them except Gupta. These counts remain open for now because the Department has not adequately supported its reasons for seeking their dismissal.
The US indictment had initially charged that Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, Vneet Jaain, Ranjit Gupta and others devised a scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure agreements linked to a 12-gigawatt solar power project. Prosecutors charged that bribes worth Rs.2,029 crore, or about $265 million, were promised to officials of State electricity distribution companies. Of this amount, Rs.1,750 crore was allegedly earmarked for officials in Andhra Pradesh to secure the purchase of seven gigawatts of solar power.
The US DOJ later sought dismissal of the indictment against all eight accused. However, on June 25, Judge Nicholas Garaufis declined to immediately approve the request and directed the DOJ to explain its reasons. The DOJ later furnished reasons for its u-turn.
The order also recorded that Gautam Adani’s lawyers had suggested during settlement discussions that the Adani Group’s publicly announced plan to invest $10 billion in the United States could form part of a resolution. The proposal was rejected by the US Attorney’s Office, and the Court ultimately accepted that the proposed investment did not influence the decision to seek dismissal. Thus, it eventually proceeded to accept the DOJ proposal and dismiss the charges against Adani.
Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain were represented in the proceedings by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP co-chair Robert J Giuffra Jr and partner James McDonald. Incidentally, Robert Giuffra happens to be US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.
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USA is no saint. It will conveniently absolve anything that it suits & frame charges at will when it does not suit it.