US Department of Justice drops all charges against Gautam Adani, court dismisses case

The US Department of Justice has dropped all criminal charges against billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani in an alleged securities and wire fraud case marking a major legal relief for the Adani Group reported IANSAccording to court filings submitted before the Eastern District of New York the Department of Justice requested that the indictment against Adani and other accused individuals be dismissed permanently The court subsequently ordered that the charges be ldquodismissed with prejudicerdquo effectively preventing the case from being reopened on the same groundsUS prosecutors cite prosecutorial discretionIn its submission to the court the Justice Department stated that it had reviewed the matter and decided against pursuing further actionldquoThe Department of Justice has reviewed this case and has decided in its prosecutorial discretion not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendantsrdquo the filing stated reported IANSThe development comes months after US prosecutors had accused Adani and others of involvement in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme linked to renewable energy contracts in India The Adani Group had consistently denied all allegations and maintained that the accusations lacked meritDefence team questioned jurisdiction and evidenceLawyers representing Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani argued before the court that the prosecution had failed to present credible evidence supporting the alleged bribery scheme reported IANSThe defence team also challenged the jurisdiction of the US Securities and Exchange Commission SEC claiming that the alleged statements cited in the case were not legally actionable According to reports Adanirsquos legal representatives maintained that there was no evidence of investor harm or direct misconduct under US law reported IANSThe Adani Group had earlier clarified that none of its executives or entities had been charged under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act It also stated that Adani Green Energy which had raised the funds in question was not directly a party to the criminal proceedingsSEC and other investigations also resolvedThe dismissal of the criminal case follows a recent settlement involving the US Securities and Exchange Commission Last week the SEC resolved related civil allegations against Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani without any admission of wrongdoing according to reports reported IANSWith the latest court order several major US legal and regulatory proceedings involving the Adani Group have now either been closed or settledHowever another development involving the conglomerate emerged earlier this week when the US Treasury Departmentrsquos Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC announced a settlement with Adani Enterprises over alleged sanctionsrelated violations connected to liquified petroleum gas imports reported IANSOFAC announces settlement over LPG importsAccording to the OFAC statement Adani Enterprises agreed to pay USD 275 million to settle potential civil liability related to ldquoapparent violationsrdquo of US sanctions on Iran The agency alleged that between November 2023 and June 2025 the company purchased LPG shipments through a Dubaibased trader that were allegedly linked to Iranianorigin supplies reported IANSOFAC claimed that the transactions resulted in 32 US dollardenominated payments worth approximately USD 192 million being processed through American financial institutionsThe Adani Group has not publicly admitted wrongdoing in relation to the settlement Meanwhile the closure of the criminal fraud case is expected to remove a major legal hurdle that had weighed on the conglomeratersquos international business operations and fundraising plansWith inputs from IANS