A US judge said prosecutors “failed” to justify their move to dismiss the criminal fraud case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani that threatened the expansion of his giant conglomerate.
Friday’s order by US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis directing prosecutors to explain their decision in writing signals that he’s still scrutinizing the decision by the Justice Department under President Donald Trump to abandon a blockbuster case filed in 2024 at the end of the Biden administration.Adani and seven others were accused in the case of a $250 million bribery scheme in India to lock in solar-power contracts, but the department said in a May filing it decided “not to devote further resources to these criminal charges.”
Garaufis in Brooklyn, New York, said the department “failed to meet its obligation to supply adequate reasoning and sufficient facts to support dismissal of the indictment.”The government’s “terse, bland, and conclusory statement affords the court neither a sufficient basis to reach any conclusion, nor the opportunity to conduct any analysis of the government’s request for dismissal,” wrote the judge, who was appointed to the bench 26 years ago by President Bill Clinton.Federal prosecutors generally have wide discretion to drop criminal cases, and judges have little power to stop them.Garaufis gave the government a July 13 deadline to “advise the court of each reason for dismissing the indictment,” and to “provide the court with sufficient factual support.”Adani’s lawyers filed their own dismissal request this week.“The DOJ’s decision reflects its careful consideration of the indictment’s legal and factual weaknesses,” attorney Robert Giuffra Jr. wrote to the judge.Giuffra declined to comment on the judge’s order, as did a spokesman for Brooklyn US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr.The DOJ’s move to drop the case came as Adani Group’s flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. agreed to pay $275 million to settle a probe by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control related to Iran sanctions violations.Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, also agreed to pay a total of $18 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations they made false and misleading representations to US investors while raising money for Adani Green Energy Ltd.Adani addressed the legal proceedings in a May 29 letter to shareholders, saying that the matter was “now behind us” and will allow the group to focus on its next phase of growth.If Garaufis has concerns about how Adani’s case was handled, it wouldn’t be the first time the judge has questioned the government’s handling of an international bribery prosecution.The government’s move to resolve the Adani cases was the culmination of months of behind-the-scenes negotiations and maneuvering by Asia’s richest man and his cadres, and could set the stage for a comeback by the 64-year-old tycoon.The accords also marked a stark reversal by US officials on a high-profile matter initiated during Joe Biden’s presidency, continuing a significant retreat by the Trump administration on some prosecutions.In his order, Garaufis cited a Manhattan federal court’s handling of the US corruption case against former New York Mayor Eric Adams, an about-face by the Trump administration that led to the resignation of the top prosecutor in Manhattan and about half a dozen others in New York and Washington.That judge granted the prosecution’s request and dismissed the corruption case in 2025, but rejected the government’s bid to be able to re-file criminal charges against Adams later.In a 2024 indictment, the Justice Department alleged that Adani and others promised bribes to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts, and concealed the plan as they raised $175 million from US investors.The Adani Group is one of India’s most powerful companies, whose interests include energy, airports and a data center business that’s part of a $100 billion digital infrastructure push.Closing the books on the US legal proceedings will help the conglomerate resume its aggressive expansion strategy, following allegations of market manipulation by short-seller Hindenburg Research in 2023 that Adani has also denied.The criminal case is US v. Adani, 24-cv-00433, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).(Updates with prosecution declining to comment.)This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
