Gautam Adani indicted by US SEC for alleged bribery

• Gautam Adani He was accused by the US SEC of defrauding American investors.
• Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani were charged with conspiracy to commit securities dealing and wire fraud.
• Adani and seven other executives are accused of bribing Indian government officials to obtain lucrative contracts.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused billionaire Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of Adani Group, of defrauding American investors and bribing officials.

Adani, 62, his nephew Sagar Adani, 30, directors of Adani Green Energy Ltd and Cyril Cabanes, a director of Azure Power Global Ltd, were charged on Wednesday with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, as well as major securities fraud. Their role in a multibillion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions through false and misleading statements.

The SEC alleged that the bribery scheme was orchestrated to enable renewable energy companies Adani Green and Azure Power to benefit from a multibillion-dollar solar project awarded by the Indian government.

The complaint accuses them of violating anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctive relief, civil penalties and officer and director restraining orders.

During the alleged scheme, Adani Green raised more than $175 million from US investors and Azure Power’s shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the SEC said in a statement.

Simultaneously, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced criminal charges against Adani and Sagar Adani, Cabanes and others affiliated with Adani Green and Azure Power.

The federal indictment, unsealed in a federal court in Brooklyn, charges the five men with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with a bribery scheme involving one of the world’s largest solar projects.

Federal prosecutors allege that Adani and his partners paid over $250 million in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to obtain solar energy contracts with estimated after-tax profits of more than $2 billion over a nearly 20-year period.

Adani and seven other executives are accused of bribing Indian government officials to secure lucrative contracts and defrauding investors by making false statements about bribery and corruption.

They also allegedly tried to obstruct investigations, according to FBI Deputy Director James Dennehy.

“This indictment alleges a scheme to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and obstruct justice,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa H Miller.

“These crimes were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance major government energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of U.S. investors,” he added.

The Department of Justice alleged that Adani personally met with an Indian government official on several occasions to further the bribery scheme, and that the defendants had face-to-face meetings with each other to discuss aspects of executing that scheme.

“The defendants frequently discussed their efforts to further the Bribery Scheme, including through an electronic messaging application,” it alleged.

With inputs from PTI.

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