A US federal judge has dismissed the criminal bribery and fraud case against billionaire Gautam Adani, bringing an end to one of the most closely watched legal battles involving the Indian business group in the United States.
US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York approved the US Department of Justice’s request to dismiss the criminal case against Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and former Adani Green Energy CEO Vneet Jaain, among others. The dismissal was made with prejudice, meaning the same criminal charges cannot be brought again.
The decision follows months of uncertainty after the US Justice Department moved to abandon the prosecution. The case had originally accused the defendants of participating in an alleged scheme involving payments to Indian government officials to secure solar power contracts. The allegations were denied by Adani and the other accused.
The indictment, filed in 2024, alleged that the defendants were involved in a scheme in which about $265 million in bribes were promised to Indian officials. Prosecutors said the payments were intended to help secure power supply agreements connected with major solar energy projects.
The US case also alleged that information about the bribery scheme was concealed from investors. According to the indictment, Adani-related entities had raised billions of dollars from US investors and financial markets.
Adani has consistently denied wrongdoing and rejected the allegations against him.
The dismissal, however, did not come without criticism from the judge. Garaufis questioned the way the Justice Department had handled its decision to withdraw the prosecution and criticised senior DOJ official Trent McCotter over his role in the process. Reuters reported that the judge described aspects of the government’s conduct as highly unusual and expressed concern that established investigative and prosecutorial views appeared to have been bypassed.
The judge had previously refused to immediately approve the government’s request to drop the case, saying the initial explanation from prosecutors was insufficient. The DOJ subsequently provided additional reasons for its decision.
Prosecutors argued that the case involved conduct outside the United States, would be difficult to prove and was not an appropriate use of government resources given the department’s changing priorities. The government maintained that the decision was based on prosecutorial discretion.
Another issue examined by the court was a pledge by Adani to invest around $10 billion in the United States. During the proceedings, questions were raised about whether the proposed investment had any connection with the government’s decision to end the prosecution.
The judge ultimately found that the investment pledge did not influence the government’s decision to seek dismissal, according to the court’s findings reported by Reuters. The court nevertheless questioned the circumstances surrounding the government’s handling of the case and left it to the public to assess the broader implications.
For the Adani Group, the dismissal removes a major criminal case that had remained an important concern for investors and the conglomerate’s international operations since the original indictment.
Adani welcomed the decision, saying his faith in the rule of law had remained firm during the proceedings. He has maintained that the allegations against him were unfounded.
The criminal case should also be distinguished from a separate civil proceeding involving the US Securities and Exchange Commission. That matter has been dealt with separately and should not be interpreted as having disappeared simply because the criminal prosecution has been dismissed.
In May, Adani Green Energy disclosed that the SEC, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani had sought a final judgment by consent in the civil case. The company also clarified that it was not itself a party to that proceeding.
The latest development therefore represents a significant legal relief for Gautam Adani in the US criminal case, but it does not erase every legal proceeding connected with the broader allegations.
The decision is also likely to be closely watched in Indian financial markets. Adani Group shares gained after news of the dismissal, with several group companies seeing their stocks rise as investors reacted to the removal of the criminal prosecution as a major overhang.
The case had attracted global attention because of the size of the alleged solar bribery scheme, the involvement of one of India’s largest business groups and the questions it raised about corporate governance and cross-border enforcement.
With the criminal indictment now dismissed with prejudice, the immediate US prosecution against Adani has come to an end. The controversy surrounding the original allegations, however, remains significant, particularly because separate civil proceedings and settlements continue to form part of the wider legal picture.