A US District Court in New York has indicted Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and other business executives on charges of involvement in an alleged multi-billion dollar bribery and fraud scheme.
According to a CNN report, authorities alleged that Gautam Adani and seven other senior business executives offered over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts. These contracts were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax over an approximately 20-year period.
A five-count criminal indictment has been unsealed in the district court, charging them in connection with the scheme, Reuters reported, citing US prosecutors.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York stated: “A five-count criminal indictment was unsealed in federal court charging Gautam Adani, Sagar R. Adani, and Vneet S. Jaain with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements.”
Sagar Adani is the nephew of Gautam Adani, while Vneet S. Jain is an executive at Adani Green Energy.
The Reuters report, citing the indictment, claims that some conspirators privately referred to Gautam Adani using code names such as “Numero Uno” and “The Big Man.” Sagar Adani allegedly used his cellphone to monitor details of the bribes.
The report, quoting US prosecutors, adds that Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Vneet Jain raised over $3 billion in loans and bonds for the company by concealing the corruption from lenders and investors.
Similarly, CNN reported that authorities allege Gautam Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the scheme, which took place between 2020 and 2024. The defendants reportedly held frequent meetings to discuss the bribery, with evidence found on multiple phones.
The US Justice Department, as quoted by CNN, stated that evidence included a cellphone extensively used to track bribe details, a photograph of a document summarizing various bribe amounts, and PowerPoint and Excel analyses outlining options for paying and concealing the bribes.
The DOJ further alleged that Gautam Adani and his associates concealed these schemes from US investors to secure financing, including funds for solar energy supply contracts obtained through bribery.
The indictment also charges Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable-energy company whose securities were traded on the New York Stock Exchange (the US Issuer), and Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the alleged bribery scheme.
“As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars, and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani, and Vneet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from US and international investors,” stated US Attorney Breon Peace.
Peace added that those named in the indictment undermined the integrity of international financial markets and defrauded US and global investors.
“The 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,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Dennehy.
The indictment also accuses the executives of obstructing investigations by the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The US Attorney’s Office stated that the charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI New York’s Corporate, Securities and Commodities Fraud and International Corruption Units.
The government’s case is being handled by the Business and Securities Fraud Section of the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.