Adani was indicted in federal court in Brooklyn in connection with charges tied to allegations about a solar power arrangement with the Indian government, a case that prosecutors said involved bribery and securities fraud. On Monday, U.S. prosecutors asked the judge assigned to the matter, Nicholas Garaufis, to dismiss the criminal charges, moving to end the prosecution without a trial.
In a court filing, prosecutors wrote that the Department of Justice had reviewed the case and decided—in prosecutorial discretion—not to devote further resources to the criminal charges against the individual defendants. The filing named Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter and Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr.
Judge Garaufis still must approve the prosecutors’ request. Prosecutors said lawyers for Adani and his co-defendants consented to the dismissal, and they said Adani’s lawyer, Robert Giuffra, and other attorneys for co-defendants including Sagar Adani declined comment.
Adani has denied wrongdoing since the case was announced in 2024. Prosecutors had alleged that Adani and others played “two sides” of a solar deal by enticing investors with what they said was a rosy portrayal of the project while also offering bribes to Indian government officials to secure lucrative contracts.
The indictment described an arrangement involving Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government, prosecutors said. The case accused Adani of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud connected to the alleged bribery scheme.
The move to seek dismissal came after, prosecutors said, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a settlement of a related lawsuit involving Adani. Prosecutors also referenced broader U.S. policy shifts, noting that Adani had not been arrested and had not been brought to the United States, and some observers in India had expected the case to be shelved after President Donald Trump suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. law that prohibits business bribery overseas.
Adani built his business fortune in coal before expanding the Adani Group into other industries, including renewable energy, defense and agriculture, according to prosecutors’ description of his corporate history. The company also developed a portfolio of clean-energy assets and had set a goal of becoming India’s biggest player in the sector by 2030, with close ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Still, the case has been entangled in a long-running dispute over Adani’s relationship with Indian officials and the terms under which contracts were awarded. A short-seller, Hindenburg Research, has accused Adani and his company of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud,” while the Adani Group has said the allegations are baseless and has described them as selective misinformation.
Prosecutors said the charges were tied to the solar project after they were announced in 2024. They also said the fallout from the allegations included actions outside the U.S., including that Kenya’s president canceled multimillion-dollar airport expansion and energy deals with Adani, and that Adani Green Energy withdrew wind energy projects from Sri Lanka after that country sought to renegotiate prices, with a French oil giant also pausing new investments.
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Adani’s first name. It is Gautam, not Gautaum.