Justice Department may drop Adani bribery charges after unusual offer

U.S. authorities were moving toward a possible retreat from one of the most politically charged white-collar prosecutions in recent memory, after a lawyer for Gautam Adani made an unusual offer in a private meeting. If the Justice Department drops the criminal case, it would end a fraud fight that has hung over Asia’s richest person since a Brooklyn indictment accused him and two executives of a bribery scheme tied to Indian solar contracts.

The criminal case began when the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York unsealed a five-count indictment on November 20, 2024. Prosecutors charged Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and Adani Green Energy executive Vneet S. Jaain with conspiring in a scheme that allegedly involved more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials. They said the contracts at issue were projected to generate more than $2 billion in after-tax profits over roughly 20 years.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a parallel civil case the same day against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Cyril Cabanes, alleging conduct arising from the same bribery scheme. Adani Group denied the accusations the next day, calling the claims baseless. The alleged conduct spanned roughly 2020 to 2024, and the case immediately hit Adani-linked shares, wiping out market value and jolting investor confidence in one of India’s most prominent conglomerates.

The timing made the case especially sensitive. The indictment landed just weeks before the end of the Biden administration, and the charges carried obvious implications not just for Adani’s businesses but for the relationship between the United States and India, where the conglomerate remains deeply embedded in infrastructure and energy. In January 2026, the SEC sought permission to serve summons by email to Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani after the civil case stalled, a sign that the litigation remained active even as the criminal case appeared to be heading toward a possible exit ramp.

A dismissal would give Adani a major legal and financial reprieve, and it could help reopen a difficult U.S. capital-markets path for the group. It would also underscore how white-collar cases involving globally connected executives are often resolved as much through negotiation and power as through trial, especially when the alleged conduct reaches into strategic industries, cross-border finance and diplomatic pressure points.