Billionaire Gautam Adani charged in New York with massive fraud

Gautam Adani, chairman of India’s Adani Group and one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, has been indicted alongside seven others in a New York federal court on charges related to a vast bribery and fraud scheme, U.S. authorities announced on Wednesday.

The indictment accuses Adani and the other defendants of paying over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy supply contracts, which reportedly generated more than $2 billion in profits.

Adani, 62, along with two Adani Green Energy Limited executives—his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain—are also charged with misleading U.S. and international investors regarding their company’s compliance with anti-bribery and anti-corruption standards while raising more than $3 billion to fund the energy contracts.

Gautam and Sagar Adani, along with Jaain, face charges including securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and securities fraud.

The five-count indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, also names Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of Azure Power Global, a renewable energy company, as well as three former employees of the Canadian institutional investor Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec: Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra.

The defendants are accused of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by facilitating the alleged bribery scheme. Additionally, Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Malhotra, and Rupesh Agarwal are charged with obstructing U.S. federal and SEC investigations into the case.

Although the central activities occurred in India, the indictment is being prosecuted in Brooklyn due to alleged actions tied to the Eastern District of New York. These include false or omitted statements related to a bond issuance that raised capital for the solar energy contracts.

None of the defendants are currently in U.S. custody. Most reside in India, except for Cabanes, who lives in France and Australia, according to prosecutors.

Separately, the SEC has filed civil complaints against Gautam and Sagar Adani, as well as Cyril Cabanes. The complaints allege that Adani Green Energy and Azure Power Global capitalized on bribery to secure government-awarded solar energy contracts.

According to the SEC, Adani Green Energy raised more than $175 million from U.S. investors during the scheme, and Azure Power’s stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

“Gautam and Sagar Adani orchestrated a bribery scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars in payments to Indian government officials, ensuring commitments to purchase energy at inflated rates that benefited Adani Green and Azure Power,” the SEC stated. The agency also noted Cabanes’ alleged role in facilitating bribes both in the U.S. and internationally.

Gautam Adani, whose net worth is estimated at $85 billion, is currently the second-richest person in Asia.

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