US may drop Adani criminal case after $10-billion investment offer: report

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is preparing to drop criminal charges against Gautam Adani after his legal team proposed a $10-billion investment in the US, The New York Times reported on Friday.

The move could abruptly end one of the highest-profile corporate fraud cases involving an Indian business group.

According to the report, the shift came after Adani appointed a new legal team led by Robert J Giuffra Jr., one of Donald Trump’s personal lawyers and co-chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell.

The criminal case dates back to an indictment filed by US prosecutors in November 2024, accusing Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and several associates of orchestrating a $265 million bribery scheme involving Indian government officials.

The report said Giuffra presented roughly 100 slides during a meeting at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington last month, arguing that prosecutors lacked both sufficient evidence and jurisdiction to pursue the case.

One of those slides, according to the report, carried an unusual proposal: if prosecutors dropped the charges, Adani would commit $10 billion to the US economy and create 15,000 jobs — reinforcing an investment pledge made after Trump’s election.

The report added that Giuffra also sought to resolve a parallel civil case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as a separate Treasury Department investigation. Both agencies are now preparing settlements that would involve financial penalties, it said.

While prosecutors reportedly maintained that the investment proposal would not influence the legal outcome, sources cited by the NYT said the offer received a “favorable response” inside the DOJ.

US authorities had alleged that the bribes were intended to secure solar energy contracts expected to generate nearly $2 billion in profits over 20 years, while helping build one of India’s largest renewable energy projects.

Prosecutors also accused Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and former Adani Green Energy CEO Vneet Jaain of raising more than $3 billion through loans and bond offerings while concealing details of the alleged corruption scheme. Charges included securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud conspiracy.

The SEC separately accused the executives of misleading investors and withholding corruption-related risks tied to the company’s operations.

Adani and his associates have consistently denied all allegations, calling the charges baseless and politically motivated, while maintaining that the group complied with all disclosure and corporate governance requirements.