WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug 11: A US federal judge on Monday dismissed the criminal bribery case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and seven other defendants, while sharply criticizing a senior Department of Justice official involved in the decision to abandon the prosecution.
Adani and the other defendants were indicted in November 2024 in a New York federal court over allegations involving a bribery and fraud scheme linked to solar energy contracts in India.
Prosecutors had accused the defendants of paying more than $250 million in alleged bribes to Indian government officials to secure lucrative solar energy supply contracts. They also alleged that the defendants misled US investors and financial institutions while raising billions of dollars and attempted to obstruct justice.
Adani, who heads the Adani Group, welcomed the court’s decision in a post on X, saying he accepted it with “humility and deep respect for the judicial process” and that his faith in “the rule of law remained unwavering.”
In his 47-page ruling, US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis criticized the conduct of Trent McCotter, the principal associate deputy attorney general, who sought dismissal of the indictment.
Garaufis said McCotter had “eschewed the professional opinions of innumerable officials from various federal offices and replaced them with his singular judgment.”
The judge also described as “highly unusual” McCotter’s decision to seek dismissal of the case after working largely with Adani’s defense lawyers and apparently without input from government agencies that had investigated the bribery and fraud allegations.
McCotter filed a request on May 18 to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, saying the Justice Department had reviewed the case and decided “not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants.”
Adani lawyer’s role draws scrutiny
Adani’s defense team was led by Robert Giuffra of Sullivan & Cromwell, who also serves as personal attorney to US President Donald Trump.
According to court documents, Giuffra and his legal team provided McCotter with a roughly 600-page submission intended to familiarize him with the case.
The New York Times reported in May that Giuffra had met Justice Department officials in Washington and argued that prosecutors lacked “basic evidence” needed to pursue the bribery investigation.
Adani had also offered to invest $10 billion in the US economy and create 15,000 jobs as part of a proposed settlement, according to the newspaper. However, subsequent court documents indicated that the offer did not form part of the Justice Department’s decision-making process in dropping the criminal case.
Civil case settled
The dismissal of the criminal case follows a separate resolution involving the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Earlier this year, the SEC settled its civil case involving bribery allegations against Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani. The two agreed to pay a combined $18 million in fines.
The legal developments have removed a major source of uncertainty surrounding the Indian business tycoon, whose conglomerate has significant interests in ports, energy, cement, infrastructure and media.
Adani’s fortune also increased by about $2 billion in June, according to Forbes, making him Asia’s richest person at the time and putting him ahead of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son.
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