US Judge Orders DOJ To Explain Why Adani Bribery Case Has Been Dropped
India-West News Desk
NEW YORK, NY – A United States federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice to justify its recent decision to drop all criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, putting a temporary halt to the formal dismissal of a high-profile fraud case that has drawn scrutiny over the industrialist’s deepening ties to the Trump administration.
US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, based in Brooklyn, issued the order on June 26, refusing an immediate request from Adani’s legal team to formally dismiss the indictment with prejudice. The judge gave federal prosecutors a July 13 deadline to submit more information, calling the government’s initial explanation for abandoning the prosecution terse, bland, and conclusory. Garaufis wrote that the brief statement failed to afford the court a sufficient basis to reach any conclusion or conduct a proper analysis of the dismissal request.
The Department of Justice decided to permanently drop the securities and wire fraud charges in May, shortly after Adani pledged a $10 billion investment in Texas and began heavily utilizing Trump-affiliated lawyers.
Adani, ranked by Bloomberg as the world’s 17th richest person, retained attorney Robert Giuffra of the firm Sullivan and Cromwell to lead his defense. Giuffra happens to serve as one of President Trump’s personal lawyers. Furthermore, James McDonald, a member of Giuffra’s legal team who helped secure the favorable outcome for Adani, was recently tapped by Trump to serve as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan.
The overlapping connections extend beyond the courtroom. While the Department of Justice investigation was actively underway in November, Bloomberg News reported that Adani held a private meeting with the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., though the details of their discussion were not disclosed.
The original case against Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and executive Vineet Jain was unsealed in November 2024 under the administration of then-President Joe Biden. Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Adani and his associates orchestrated a multi-billion dollar bribery scheme, agreeing to pay off Indian government officials to secure lucrative solar power plant contracts. They were further accused of misleading American investors during bond offerings by misrepresenting the company’s anti-corruption practices.
Adani has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and his defense team has urged the court to fully close the matter. In a June 24 letter his attorneys argued that the case should be permanently dismissed because the alleged actions fell entirely outside the jurisdiction of US law and because prosecutors lacked the ability to prove bribery occurred in India.
