US DOJ Permanently Drops All Criminal Charges Against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has permanently withdrawn all criminal charges against Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, bringing to an end the high-profile securities and wire fraud case filed in New York. Following the development, shares of several Adani Group companies rose by as much as five per cent in market trading.

The criminal case, initiated in late 2024, had accused Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani of orchestrating a purported USD 265 million bribery scheme involving Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. US authorities had alleged that the arrangement was concealed from investors and lenders while capital was being raised. However, prosecutors later concluded they could not sustain the allegations and moved to formally end proceedings.

In a submission before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the DOJ requested that the indictment be dismissed “with prejudice”, effectively preventing the case from being reopened in the future. “The Department of Justice has reviewed this case and has decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants,” the filing stated.

The court subsequently approved the request and ordered that the indictment against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and other defendants be dismissed permanently. The decision represents a dramatic reversal in a case that had cast uncertainty over the Adani Group’s international expansion plans and triggered concerns among investors.

Last week, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled a parallel civil matter involving disclosures made to investors concerning solar energy projects in India. As part of the settlement, Gautam Adani agreed to pay USD 6 million, while Sagar Adani agreed to pay USD 12 million, without admitting or denying wrongdoing.

Separately, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) concluded another matter linked to allegations concerning liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports involving Iran sanctions. The Adani Group agreed to pay USD 275 million in that settlement and reportedly extended “extensive cooperation” with investigators while making “proactive” disclosures.

According to individuals familiar with the matter, the DOJ’s criminal case weakened after prosecutors found insufficient evidence and struggled to establish clear jurisdictional links with the United States.

Over several months, the Adanis’ legal teams engaged with American authorities through a series of legal submissions and presentations. The billionaire industrialist was represented by prominent US law firms, including Sullivan & Cromwell, Nixon Peabody, Hecker Fink, Norton Rose Fulbright and Bracewell.

In legal submissions filed before the court in April 2026, Adani’s lawyers challenged the SEC proceedings, arguing that the matter amounted to an “impermissibly extraterritorial application” of US securities law. The defence maintained that the case primarily involved Indian entities, conduct allegedly occurring entirely in India and securities not traded on American exchanges.

According to the filings, US regulators lacked sufficient jurisdiction and had failed to establish direct links between the accused and alleged misstatements made during bond offerings. The legal team further argued that anti-bribery allegations had been repackaged as securities fraud claims despite the absence of investor losses or evidence directly tying Gautam Adani to the issuance of bonds. Legal experts had increasingly questioned whether US authorities had overextended securities laws to pursue allegations centred largely outside American territory.

Notably, Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Adani executive Vneet Jaain were charged under securities and wire fraud provisions but were not named under the more serious Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) bribery charges brought against other defendants in the broader investigation. Throughout the proceedings, the Adani Group repeatedly denied wrongdoing, maintaining that its governance and compliance systems met international standards and insisting it would contest the allegations through legal channels.

Former SEC commissioner Laura Unger had also publicly questioned the basis of the case, arguing that regulators appeared to have attempted to build a securities fraud prosecution around bribery allegations that had neither been adjudicated nor pursued formally in India.