Indian Billionaire Gautam Adani Indicted in US Bribery Case

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, along with seven other executives, has been charged in the United States for allegedly offering bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts.

According to the US Department of Justice, Adani, chairman of the Adani Group and operator of India’s largest private port, APSEZ, along with his nephew Sagar Adani and executives from a renewable energy firm, are accused of misleading US investors and global financial institutions by providing false information about their company’s anti-bribery policies.

The indictment alleges that between 2020 and 2024, the defendants paid over $250 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure contracts for 12 GW of solar power supply, expected to yield more than $2 billion in profits over 20 years. Prosecutors claim that Adani Green Energy and another firm involved in the deal falsified documents to attract billions of dollars in Wall Street investments while orchestrating the bribery scheme.

US Attorney Breon Peace stated that the defendants misrepresented their operations in India while seeking financial backing from both American and international investors.

Charges against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Vneet Jaain include conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, along with substantive securities fraud. Prosecutors allege that Gautam Adani directly participated in the scheme, meeting with Indian officials to facilitate the bribery operation.

The indictment also names Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable energy company, and Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor, for attempting to obstruct justice by hiding evidence and their involvement from investigators.

A New York judge has issued arrest warrants for Gautam and Sagar Adani, and prosecutors are seeking assistance from international law enforcement agencies. This case adds to mounting allegations against Adani, whose wealth and business empire have already taken significant hits due to other fraud claims.