NEW YORK — A U.S. federal judge has permanently dismissed criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, ending a nearly two-year case in which prosecutors accused them of securities and wire fraud linked to an alleged bribery scheme.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn granted the Justice Department's request to dismiss the indictment on Aug. 10, after months of scrutiny over the government's decision to abandon the prosecution. The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning the criminal charges cannot be brought again on the same allegations.
The Justice Department said the case was primarily foreign, difficult to prove and inconsistent with its current enforcement priorities. Prosecutors had announced in May that they would no longer pursue the charges.
Garaufis nevertheless criticized the way the decision was reached. He said Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter had worked with Adani's defense lawyers while deciding to seek dismissal without obtaining input from prosecutors and investigators who had handled the case.
"The irregularities in the decision to dismiss the indictment are concerning," Garaufis wrote, according to the court ruling. He said McCotter appeared to have substituted his own judgment for the views of numerous federal officials.
The judge also examined whether Adani's earlier pledge to invest $10 billion in the United States had influenced the government's decision. Garaufis said he was satisfied that the investment pledge did not factor into the Justice Department's decision to seek dismissal, while noting that his ruling did not endorse the government's reasoning or address the merits of the original allegations.
Adani, who has denied wrongdoing, welcomed the ruling. "I welcome the U.S. Court's decision with humility and deep respect for the judicial process," he said in a statement posted on X.
The criminal case stemmed from a 2024 indictment alleging that senior executives participated in a scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure solar-energy contracts and then misled U.S. investors about anti-corruption practices. Adani himself never appeared in U.S. court to face the charges.
The dismissal does not erase separate civil and regulatory proceedings. In a resolution with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Gautam Adani agreed to pay $6 million and Sagar Adani agreed to pay $12 million. Adani Enterprises also agreed to pay $275 million to settle alleged U.S. Iran-sanctions violations.
With the criminal indictment now permanently dismissed, the U.S. case against Gautam and Sagar Adani has formally ended.
