US Department of Justice Drops Criminal Charges Against Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani

Key Points:

The criminal charges against Indian billionaire businessman Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and six others have been permanently dropped by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). This brings an end to the high-profile case USA vs Gautam Adani & Others, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The case had accused Adani Group leaders of misleading investors in connection with large solar energy projects in India.

The DOJ informed a New York federal court that, after reviewing the matter, it had decided not to continue pursuing the case. In its May 18, 2026 filing, the department said, “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.” Prosecutors asked the court to permanently close the case, meaning it cannot be filed again in the future. The court accepted the request and officially dropped all charges against Gautam Adani and the other accused.

See Also: US DoJ Moves to Drop Criminal Fraud and Conspiracy Charges Against Adani While SEC Settles Civil Bribery Suit

The criminal case was originally filed in late 2024 and alleged that the Adani Group was involved in a $265 million bribery scheme linked to a 12-gigawatt solar power project in India. According to US prosecutors, bribes worth nearly ₹2,029 crore were allegedly promised to officials of Indian state electricity distribution companies to secure power supply agreements. Out of this, around ₹1,750 crore was allegedly meant for officials in Andhra Pradesh to help purchase 7 gigawatts of solar power. Prosecutors had also claimed that Adani companies raised more than $3 billion from US investors while hiding details of the alleged bribery arrangement.

However, the Adani Group strongly denied all the allegations and called the accusations baseless. The company’s lawyers argued that US authorities did not have the legal right to pursue the case because most of the companies, projects, investors, and activities linked to the matter were based in India. They said the securities involved were not traded on US stock exchanges and that the alleged actions took place entirely in India. According to the defence team, US regulators were trying to apply American securities laws to a matter that mainly fell under Indian jurisdiction.

See Also: SEBI Alleges Insider Trading in Adani Group’s NDTV Open Offer; Initiates Proceedings Against Pranav Adani and Relatives

The defence team also said there were “no investor losses”, all bond obligations had been honoured, and Gautam Adani “did not authorise the issuance of the bonds”. Lawyers further argued that the SEC had “recast” bribery allegations into securities fraud claims after failing to sustain anti-bribery accusations directly. The case faced increasing criticism from legal experts who questioned whether US authorities were stretching securities laws too far to target conduct that mainly occurred outside America.

At the same time, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) settled allegations related to Adani Group’s LPG imports involving Iran sanctions. The Adani Group agreed to pay $275 million while extending “extensive cooperation” with investigators and making “proactive” disclosures.

The legal battle involved some of the top law firms in the United States. Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Vneet Jaain were represented by lawyers including Robert J. Giuffra Jr. and James McDonald from Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Interestingly, Robert Giuffra is also known as US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

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