Highlights:
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his newphew Sagar Adani of Adani Group have agreed to pay a combined $18 million in penalties to settle a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The regulator accused the Adanis in 2024 of paying bribes to Indian officials connected to major renewable energy projects. The SEC also claimed they misled American investors about anti-bribery practices while trying to raise money through a bond offering.
The proposed settlement still needs court approval. Markets reacted positively after the news became public. Shares of companies linked to the Adani Group rose on Friday.
The Adani Group is one of India’s largest business conglomerates. It has major interests in energy, airports, and infrastructure.
The proposed agreement does not include any admission or denial of wrongdoing by the Adanis. However, it bars them from future violations of important US anti-fraud laws related to investor deception, securities fraud, and market manipulation.
In its 2024 lawsuit, the SEC also accused the Adanis of raising $750 million while allegedly misleading investors about Adani Green Energy and its compliance with anti-bribery laws. According to the regulator, around $175 million of that money came from US investors.
The Adani Group rejected the allegations and described them as "baseless".
According to Forbes, the 63-year-old Gautam Adani has a net worth of $82 billion. He is considered one of the richest people in the world.
Separate reports from The New York Times, Reuters, and Bloomberg said on Thursday that the US Department of Justice was moving to drop criminal fraud charges against Gautam Adani.
The New York Times reported that the change came after Adani hired a new legal team led by Robert J Giuffra Jr. He is the head of a major US law firm and also one of President Donald Trump’s personal legal advisers.
Giuffra was also part of the legal team Trump hired to appeal his criminal conviction in the hush-money payment case.
According to the Times, Giuffra met Justice Department officials last month to raise concerns about the case.
The report also said he told officials that Adani would invest $10 billion in the US and create 15,000 jobs if prosecutors dropped the charges. The pledge repeated a statement Adani made to Trump shortly after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
Sources quoted by the Times said the possible dismissal reflected a broader move by the Trump administration away from prosecuting foreign bribery cases.
The BBC said it had contacted both the Justice Department and the Adani Group for comment.
