US prosecutors asked the judge on Monday to drop fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who is accused of deceiving investors in a huge solar energy project in India.
Adani, one of the world’s richest people, was accused in 2024 of paying huge bribes to ensure the project’s success. He was charged with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud in connection with a lucrative arrangement by Adani Green Energy Ltd. Another company sold 12 gigawatts of solar energy to the Indian government to light millions of homes and businesses.
Adani Group denied the allegations at the time, calling them baseless.
“The Department of Justice has reviewed this case and has determined, in its judicial discretion, not to allocate further resources to these criminal charges against the individual defendants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Judge Nicholas Garaufis still must approve the request.
Prosecutors said Adani’s lawyers and the other defendants agreed to the request. Adani’s lawyer, Robert Giuffra, declined to comment.
Adani was never arrested in the case or brought to the United States to stand trial, and some in India had long expected the case to be put on hold after President Donald Trump last year suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a US law that prohibits bribery from overseas businesses.
The move to drop the charges comes after the US Securities and Exchange Commission said it was working to settle a related lawsuit against Adani.
Adani built his fortune in coal in the 1990s, and over time, the Adani group has embraced a diversified portfolio, investing in industries such as renewable energy, defense and agriculture.
The company had amassed a clean energy portfolio that included one of the world’s largest solar power plants, and set a goal of becoming the country’s largest player in the field by 2030. Adani had close ties with the Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
But the company had its critics, too.
Hindenburg Research, a US-based financial research firm, accused Adani and his company of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud”. The Adani Group described the allegations as a “malicious mix of selective misinformation and baseless and discredited claims”.
When they charged Adani in 2024, US prosecutors in New York said he and others played two sides of the solar deal, rosy enticing Wall Street investors to pump several billion dollars into the project over five years while offering $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure lucrative contracts.
After the case was announced, the Kenyan president canceled the airport expansion and multi-million dollar energy deals with Adani. Adani Green Energy withdrew its wind energy projects from Sri Lanka after the country sought to renegotiate prices, while the French oil giant also halted new investments.
Analysts say a key factor in Adani’s meteoric rise over the years has been his skill in aligning his group’s priorities with those of the Modi government. His critics accuse him of crony capitalism and receiving preferential treatment from the government, including winning contracts, which the group denies.
