From Brooklyn indictment to quiet dismissal — how Gautam Adani’s legal team may have pulled off one of the biggest reversals in recent US legal history
Washington/New Delhi | The United States Department of Justice is on the verge of dropping criminal fraud and bribery charges against Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group and one of Asia’s wealthiest individuals, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The development marks a dramatic turn in a case that had rattled India’s corporate establishment, strained diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Washington, and wiped billions off Adani Group’s market capitalisation when it first broke in late 2024.
The Charges That Started It All
In October 2024, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Adani and several co-conspirators, alleging he agreed to pay approximately $250 million — roughly ₹2,100 crore — in bribes to Indian state government officials to win approval for a massive solar power project projected to generate $2 billion in profits over two decades. The group allegedly raised over $3 billion in loans and bonds while concealing this alleged corruption from lenders and investors — simultaneously deceiving American investors by publicly claiming a zero-tolerance stance on corruption.
Adani Group dismissed the allegations as “baseless” from day one and vowed to fight them through every legal avenue available.
Enter Trump’s Personal Lawyer
The story took a decisive turn when Adani hired Robert J. Giuffra Jr., senior partner at the prestigious Manhattan firm Sullivan & Cromwell — and, notably, one of President Donald Trump’s personal attorneys in his ongoing legal battles including his hush money conviction appeal and the civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Last month, Giuffra walked into DOJ headquarters in Washington with a detailed presentation. The bulk of it argued the case was fundamentally weak — lacking proper jurisdiction and sufficient evidence, with no American investors having actually lost money. He had made similar arguments in parallel SEC court filings.
Buried within that presentation, however, was a reference to Adani’s publicly announced pledge — made shortly after Trump’s 2024 election victory — to invest $10 billion in the US economy and create 15,000 jobs. Giuffra noted that Adani could not honour that commitment while criminal charges remained pending.
Importantly, two sources familiar with the discussions were at pains to clarify that this investment pledge was a minor component of the presentation — not the primary driver of DOJ’s apparent change of heart. The core argument remained legal, not economic.
The Previous Pitch That Failed
What makes Giuffra’s role particularly significant is this: Adani’s previous legal team had made a similar pitch to the DOJ last year — and failed. The DOJ at that point declined to drop the case. It was only after Giuffra — Trump’s own lawyer — was brought on board that the needle appears to have moved.
The Civil Settlement
On the civil side, SEC lawyers have approached a federal judge in Brooklyn seeking approval of an $18 million settlement to end their parallel lawsuit. Under its terms, Gautam Adani will pay $6 million in penalties while nephew Sagar Adani pays $12 million — neither man admitting any wrongdoing.
Separately, the Adani Group is expected to pay fines of up to $275 million to the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control over a separate investigation into alleged shipments of Iranian gas in violation of American sanctions.
Career Prosecutors Were Not Convinced
Not everyone within the DOJ was on board with pulling back. Career prosecutors handling the Adani matter had maintained until recently that the charges were solid and worth pursuing — a position that reportedly had the backing of senior DOJ leadership as well. That consensus, sources say, appears to have shifted following last month’s meeting with Giuffra’s team.
A Pattern Under Trump
Legal observers in Washington are increasingly noting that the Adani case fits a broader and visible pattern. Since returning to the White House, Trump has pushed the DOJ to retreat from Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecutions — arguing such laws unfairly disadvantage American companies competing in global markets where informal payments are routine.
This would be the highest-profile casualty of that policy shift to date — and the latest instance of the Trump administration reversing a Biden-era prosecution at the urging of outside lawyers with close ties to the President.
The India Connection
Back home, Adani’s fate has never been purely a legal matter. His ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi are deep and long-standing — both men hail from Gujarat, and Adani Group aircraft ferried Modi between campaign stops during his landmark 2014 election run. Today, Adani’s ports, airports and power infrastructure form a critical part of India’s economic backbone and Modi’s development agenda.
Since the indictment, Adani’s restricted international travel had begun to slow several of these ambitious projects. Indian hardliners had been pressing New Delhi to push back more forcefully against the US prosecution. Modi, however, told Trump during their White House meeting last year that Adani’s legal troubles were a personal matter — not a subject of bilateral discussion.
With the DOJ now apparently ready to close the file, that carefully maintained position may have quietly served its purpose.
Based on reporting by The Washington Post (Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Aaron Schaffer) and Bloomberg News. All sourced facts are attributed to those publications. This article does not claim original reporting.