U.S. prosecutors on Monday asked a federal judge in Brooklyn to dismiss criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, whom authorities had accused of paying massive bribes to secure a lucrative solar power contract with the Indian government. The Department of Justice, in a court filing, said it had decided as a matter of prosecutorial discretion not to devote further resources to the case against the individual defendants.
Adani, one of the world’s richest people, was indicted in 2024 in federal court in Brooklyn on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud. The charges stemmed from an alleged scheme to pay bribes to ensure the success of a lucrative arrangement for Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government, a deal meant to light millions of homes and businesses. The Adani Group denied the allegations at the time, calling them baseless.
“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 wrote in the filing, according to a court document reviewed by the Associated Press. The filing did not provide further detail on the rationale behind the decision.
MSI previously reported that prosecutors had formally asked the judge to dismiss the case, following a series of related developments including a settlement of a parallel civil lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The dismissal brings a close to a criminal prosecution that had drawn international attention to Adani’s business dealings and his relationship with the Indian government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.