Gautam Adani pushes to settle US fraud case
Industrialist Gautam Adani and nephew Sagar Adani facing charges of civil fraud in the US have agreed pay $18 million as fine to settle the case, American media reported on Friday. Subject to the court’s approval, the charges initiated by Department of Justice (DoJ) and Securities Exchanges Commission (SEC) will be dropped.
Adani is accused in the US of defrauding investors. In November 2024, Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, Adani Group’s Adani Green Energy and Adani’s US firm Azure were caught by US Justice Department for bribing Rs 215 million dollar to Indian Government officials so his company could win approval to develop India’s largest solar power plant.
Adani raised more than $3 billion in loans and bonds by hiding corruption from lenders and investors, prosecutors said.
The New York Times on Friday reported that Adani offered $10 billion investment in US to avoid bribery charges in the US.
The industrialist has hired lawyer close to US President Trump to settle the case. The offer was made by the advocate to the US Justice Department.
“Now, according to several people with knowledge of the case, the Justice Department is planning to drop the charges altogether. The reversal came after the Indian billionaire, Gautam Adani, hired a new legal team led by Robert J Giuffra Jr, one of President Trump’s personal lawyers,” the report read.
“Giuffra’s efforts on Adani’s behalf culminated in a previously unreported meeting last month at the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington, according to people familiar with the meeting. Giuffra ticked through about 100 slides outlining why prosecutors lacked basic evidence, as well as the jurisdiction even to bring the case, one of the people said, according to the report.
“Another slide also offered the Government a sweetener: If prosecutors dropped the charges, Adani would be willing to invest $10 billion in the US economy and create 15,000 jobs, echoing a pledge he made in the wake of Trump’s election. While prosecutors later told Giuffra that the $10 billion investment would play no role in the resolution of the case, his offer received a favorable response from at least one senior Justice Department official at the meeting, according to the people familiar with the meeting,” added the New York Times report.
