A US judge has dismissed fraud-related criminal charges against Gautam Adani and two executives after prosecutors abandoned the case. …reports Asian Lite News Desk
A US judge has dismissed criminal fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and two other executives after the US Justice Department abandoned its prosecution of the allegations.
US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis on Monday dismissed with prejudice securities fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and securities fraud conspiracy charges against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain. The dismissal means the same charges cannot be brought against them again.
The three executives had been accused of misleading US and international investors in connection with an alleged scheme to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian officials in exchange for solar energy contracts. All three denied wrongdoing.
Garaufis accepted a narrow argument put forward by the Justice Department that statements by the companies cited in the indictment could be viewed as vague assurances or “inactionable puffery”, rather than material misrepresentations that would support fraud charges.
The judge, however, rejected the department’s broader criticism of the prosecution and did not endorse its characterisation of the case as having been improperly pursued by the previous administration.
Justice Department official R. Trent McCotter had described the indictment as a “name and shame” exercise by the previous administration. He also suggested that officials had deliberately left “a potential quagmire of a case” for the incoming administration.
Garaufis stressed that his decision to dismiss the fraud charges should not be interpreted as an agreement with the Justice Department’s decision to abandon the prosecution. He also said the ruling should not be viewed as an assessment of the merits of the underlying allegations.
The ruling did not dispose of the entire five-count indictment against all eight defendants. The judge reserved judgment on foreign bribery and obstruction charges involving Ranjit Gupta, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal.
The Justice Department has been ordered to provide sufficient factual support for its request to dismiss those remaining charges by August 31.
The indictment was returned in October 2024 and unsealed the following month. Prosecutors had alleged that the defendants were involved in schemes involving bribery, investor fraud and obstruction connected to renewable energy projects in India.
The case had attracted significant attention because of the involvement of Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, one of India’s largest business conglomerates. The allegations also raised questions over corporate disclosures and the treatment of investors in connection with major international infrastructure and energy projects.
Monday’s ruling relates specifically to the criminal fraud charges against the three executives and does not automatically resolve other legal proceedings connected to the allegations.
Separate civil enforcement proceedings brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission remain distinct from the criminal case. Those proceedings are therefore not automatically ended by the judge’s dismissal of the criminal fraud charges.
The decision marks a significant development in the US case against Adani and the two executives, while the court’s consideration of the remaining charges against other defendants is continuing.
