In May 2026, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani agreed to pay a combined $18 million to settle the SEC's civil case without admitting or denying the allegations.A NEW COURT FILING in the United States has revealed that Gautam Adani's legal team submitted nearly 500 pages of legal arguments and expert opinions to convince American prosecutors to drop their criminal case. According to reports, one of these experts was an unnamed former Chief Justice of India.
The revelation comes from a 15-page court filing submitted on June 24, 2026, before Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The Wire reports that according to the filing, lawyers representing Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and Adani Green Energy CEO Vneet Jaain have asked the court to formally approve the Department of Justice’s decision to dismiss the criminal indictment with prejudice, along with the settlement of the parallel civil case filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
However, beyond seeking the court's approval, the filing reportedly provides the first detailed account of the months-long lobbying effort by Adani's lawyers to convince US prosecutors that the case should be dropped, as reported by The Wire.
According to the defence, between February 3 and April 17, 2026, Adani's legal team submitted nearly 500 pages of facts, legal arguments, expert testimony and supporting material to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The submissions began with a 118-page legal memorandum accompanied by a nine-page cover letter, followed by additional written submissions and presentations over the next two months.
One of the biggest revelations in the filing is that around 200 pages of expert reports were prepared by four prominent experts—a securities law professor at Harvard Law School, a former SEC Commissioner and Acting Chairman, a former Chief Justice of India, and a former Chairperson of India's Central Electricity Authority (CEA), who also served as a member of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. However, the filing reportedly does not identify any of these experts by name.
Following the disclosure, The Wire contacted the 20 former Chief Justices of India who are still alive to find out who had prepared the opinion. The media outlet reveals that so far, at least seven former CJIs have denied any involvement.
The seven who responded to The Wire’s questioning so far were B.R. Gavai Sanjiv Khanna, R.M. Lodha, G.B. Pattanaik, N.V. Ramana, T.S. Thakur, and P. Sathasivam. All of them clarified that they have not sent out any documents to any American court. 13 living CJIs have not yet responded to the media’s questioning.
The court filing obtained says Adani's lawyers held months of meetings and extensive discussions with prosecutors, arguing that the case filed by the Biden government in 2024, suffered from "multiple fatal defects."
According to the defence, these submissions ultimately convinced the DOJ that the indictment suffered from four primary flaws.
The filing offers details about one of the expert reports prepared by the former Chairperson of the Central Electricity Authority. According to Adani's lawyers, the expert examined the prosecution's primary allegation that Adani Green secured power purchase agreements by paying bribes to Indian government officials. According to the defence, the expert found that the alleged bribe payments were said to have happened around the same time when Adani Green and Azure Power Global had officially lowered electricity prices for state power companies.
The defence claimed these price cuts were legal, transparent, and part of normal business negotiations to get the power deals signed. It further argued that these price cuts were ordinary commercial concessions aimed at encouraging state utilities to sign solar power agreements, not evidence of bribery.
The filing also attacks Azure Power, describing it as a troubled company with a history of alleged misconduct. Adani's lawyers claimed that much of the prosecution's evidence appeared to have come from Azure executives, whose credibility they questioned, saying they had little or no firsthand knowledge of key events.
The latest court filing comes following reports of Gautam Adani seeking legal aid from Boris Epshteyn, one of US President Donald Trump’s personal attorneys. However, Epshteyn's name was never officially mentioned as Defence in the case. The official legal team representing Adani in the US was Sullivan & Cromwell, the firm which also represents Trump.
Separately, Bloomberg reported that Gautam Adani held a previously undisclosed private meeting with Donald Trump Jr. in Ahmedabad while the criminal case was pending. However, sources close to Trump Jr. denied that the case was discussed during their meeting.
In May 2026, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani agreed to pay a combined $18 million to settle the SEC's civil case without admitting or denying the allegations. Following the settlement, the DOJ also moved to dismiss the criminal indictment against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and other associates.
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