Adani charged in New York with massive fraud, bribery scheme

Gautam Adani, chairman of India’s Adani Group and one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, has been indicted in New York federal court on charges related to a large-scale bribery and fraud scheme, authorities announced on Wednesday.

Adani, along with other defendants, is accused of paying over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts, yielding profits exceeding $2 billion.

The 62-year-old billionaire, along with Adani Green Energy executives Sagar Adani (his nephew) and Vneet Jaain, is also charged with misleading U.S. and international investors about the company’s adherence to anti-bribery and anti-corruption practices while raising over $3 billion in capital for the energy projects.

The charges against Gautam and Sagar Adani, as well as Jaain, include securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and securities fraud.

The five-count indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, also names Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives at Azure Power Global, and three former employees of Canadian investor Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ): Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra.

These defendants are accused of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with the bribery scheme, as well as obstructing U.S. federal criminal and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations.

The alleged crimes, though centered in India, fall under U.S. jurisdiction due to related actions in the Eastern District of New York, including false statements connected to bond issuances for raising capital.

The SEC also filed civil complaints against Gautam and Sagar Adani, as well as Cyril Cabanes, for allegedly orchestrating and facilitating the bribery scheme.

The complaints reveal that during the scheme, Adani Green Energy raised over $175 million from U.S. investors, while Azure Power Global’s stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

The SEC alleges that Gautam and Sagar Adani “orchestrated a bribery scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials to secure energy contracts at above-market rates, benefiting Adani Green Energy and Azure Power.”

Adani Green Energy’s Khavda Renewable Energy Park in India was a focal point of these operations, designed to expand the billionaire's renewable energy empire.

This legal trouble adds to Gautam Adani’s recent challenges. In early 2023, the short-selling firm Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of engaging in decades-long stock manipulation and fraud, calling it “the largest con in corporate history.”

The fallout from the report wiped tens of billions of dollars from Adani’s personal wealth, although he denied the allegations, calling them baseless in a 413-page rebuttal.

With a reported net worth of $85 billion, Gautam Adani remains Asia’s second-richest person, despite these mounting controversies.