US SEC Charges Gautam Adani, nephew Sagar Adani Power in Massive $250 million ‘Bribery Scheme’ & fraud

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against businessmen Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, senior executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd., and Cyril Cabanes, a former executive of Azure Power Global Ltd., for their alleged involvement in a large-scale bribery scheme tied to a multi-billion-dollar solar energy project in India. The SEC alleges that the bribery was used to secure favourable deals with Indian government officials, while deceiving U.S. investors during the critical financial transactions.

Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Green’s Board of Directors, and his nephew, Sagar Adani, Executive Director of the company, are both accused of orchestrating the bribery scheme. According to the SEC’s complaint, the two executives facilitated the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials in exchange for higher-than-market rates for energy purchases that would benefit both Adani Green and Azure Power.


The other six defendants named are: i) Vneet Jaain, who is the CEO of Adani Green Energy Ltd, ii) Ranjit Gupta (who was CEO of Azure Power Global Ltd between 2019 and 2022), iii) Rupesh Agarwal, who also worked with Azure Power (between 2022 and 2023); iv, v, vi) Cyril Cabanes, a citizen of Australia and France, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, all three who worked with a Canadian institutional investor.

The charges focus on a September 2021 note offering by Adani Green that raised $750 million, including $175 million from U.S. investors. "As alleged, Gautam and Sagar Adani induced U.S. investors to buy Adani Green bonds through an offering process that misrepresented not only that Adani Green had a robust anti-bribery compliance program but also that the company’s senior management had not and would not pay or promise to pay bribes," said Sanjay Wadhwa, Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.

The SEC’s complaint further highlights that during this offering, Adani Green’s promotional materials falsely stated the company's commitment to anti-corruption efforts, undermining the integrity of the offering process. “This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice,” stated Deputy Assistant Attorney General Miller. “These offences were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of U.S. investors. The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively prosecute corrupt, deceptive, and obstructive conduct that violates U.S. law, no matter where in the world it occurs”, Miller added.

In a separate but related action, the SEC also charged Cyril Cabanes, a former member of Azure Power’s Board of Directors, for his role in the bribery scheme. The SEC alleges that Cabanes facilitated bribes while serving as a director of the U.S.-listed company. Cabanes is charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), with the SEC seeking a permanent injunction, civil penalties, and a bar from serving as an officer or director.

“Gautam S. Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses. Adani and other defendants also defrauded investors by raising capital on the basis of false statements about bribery and corruption, while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government’s investigation,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Dennehy.

As alleged in the indictment, between approximately 2020 and 2024, the “defendants” agreed to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the Indian government, which were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax over an approximately 20-year period (the Bribery Scheme). On several occasions, Gautam S. Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the ‘Bribery Scheme’, and the “defendants” held in-person meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its execution. The defendants frequently discussed their efforts in furtherance of the Bribery Scheme, including through an electronic messaging application. The defendants also extensively documented their corrupt efforts: for example, Sagar R. Adani used his cellular phone to track specific details of the bribes offered and promised to government officials; Vneet S. Jaain used his cellular phone to photograph a document summarising various bribe amounts the U.S. Issuer owed the Indian Energy Company for its respective portion of the bribes; and Rupesh Agarwal prepared and distributed to other defendants multiple analyses using PowerPoint and Excel that summarised various options for paying and concealing bribe payments

In addition to the SEC charges, criminal charges have been filed against the Adanis and Cabanes by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, signaling the seriousness of the case.
The SEC has made it clear that it will continue to pursue accountability for corporate officers involved in financial misconduct, particularly when it harms U.S. investors.

As alleged in the indictment, Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet S. Jaain caused the Indian Energy Company and certain of its subsidiaries to raise capital on the basis of false and misleading statements in connection with (i) two U.S. dollar-denominated syndicate loans totaling more than $2 billion from lender groups comprised of international financial institutions and U.S.-based investors; and (ii) two Rule 144A bond offerings for more than $1 billion underwritten by international financial institutions, which were marketed and sold to investors in the U.S., among other places. In addition, Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain caused the Indian Energy Company to make false statements in their consolidated financial statements and to the market and investors regarding the Bribery Scheme.

“The indictment further alleges that Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal conspired to obstruct the grand jury, FBI and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations into the Bribery Scheme. Among other things, those four defendants agreed to delete electronic materials related to the Bribery Scheme, including emails, electronic messages and Bribery Analyses; caused the U.S. Issuer’s Board of Directors to initiate an internal investigation into the Bribery Scheme and then withheld material information from that investigation; and falsely denied their participation in the Bribery Scheme to representatives of the FBI, DOJ and SEC at meetings in Brooklyn, New York. For this conduct, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice” read the statement issued by US Attorney, Eastern District of New York.
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