U.S. prosecutors in New York indicted Indian billionaire Gautam Adani on the event date, accusing him of participating in an alleged multibillion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme connected to solar-energy contracts.
According to the evidence packet, Adani and seven other defendants agreed to pay about US$265 million in bribes to Indian government officials in order to secure contracts expected to generate around US$2 billion in profit over 20 years and support the development of India’s largest solar power plant project. The indictment also says the defendants raised more than US$3 billion through loans and bonds while concealing the corruption from lenders and investors.
The case places one of India’s most prominent business figures at the center of a major U.S. corruption prosecution. Adani, chair of the Adani Group, was described in the supplied report as one of the world’s richest people and the 22nd-richest person globally at the time, according to Forbes. His nephew, Sagar Adani, was also named among the defendants, along with former Adani Green Energy chief executive Vneet Jaain and five others.
Prosecutors said the alleged scheme involved coded language and several layers of corporate and financial activity. The report said some conspirators privately referred to Gautam Adani as “Numero uno” and “the big man,” while Sagar Adani allegedly used his cellphone to track details of the bribes. The indictment also led to arrest warrants for Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, which prosecutors said they planned to deliver to foreign law enforcement.
The charges were announced early Thursday in India, hours after Adani had reportedly raised US$600 million through the sale of 20-year green bonds. The timing added to the shock around the case, which came nearly two years after Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of improper use of offshore tax havens. The company denied those earlier claims, but the report triggered a market wipeout of roughly US$150 billion in Adani Group stock value.
The U.S. case also expands beyond Adani himself. The evidence packet says the criminal defendants included other executives tied to Azure Power Global and to Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec. Some were accused of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, while Adani, Sagar Adani and Jaain faced securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy charges. The Adanis were also named in a civil case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The report said none of the defendants was in custody and that Gautam Adani was believed to be in India. It also noted that Adani Group and India’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Beyond the legal headlines, the indictment matters because it touches a business empire with interests across airports, ports, power generation, energy transmission and mining. It also intersects with India’s political economy, where opposition figures have long accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of shielding Adani and his companies, allegations Modi has rejected as lies and abuses.
For investors and regulators, the case is likely to be watched closely not just for its criminal allegations, but for its effects on financing, governance and the market standing of a conglomerate that has become a national and international symbol of scale. The evidence supplied here does not establish guilt, but it does show that U.S. prosecutors are treating the matter as a serious corruption and securities case with global implications.
