US Judge Seeks Explanation for Bid to Drop Criminal Case Against Adani

A US judge has ordered the Justice Department to justify its decision to drop criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, declining to immediately rule on a request by Adani’s lawyers to dismiss the case.

Brooklyn-based US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis said federal prosecutors’ May 18 announcement that they would no longer pursue the case — which accused Adani of securities fraud and wire fraud linked to an alleged bribery scheme — failed to adequately explain the decision.

“The Government’s terse, bland and conclusory statement affords the court neither a sufficient basis to reach any conclusion, nor the opportunity to conduct any analysis of the Government’s request for dismissal,” Garaufis wrote, giving the Justice Department until July 13 to provide further details.

The Adani case was filed in 2024 towards the end of Democratic President Joe Biden’s term. The move to drop the charges marked the latest instance of the Justice Department seeking to end a high-profile white-collar criminal prosecution during Republican President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

Legal experts say US judges have limited discretion to compel prosecutors to continue criminal cases they no longer wish to pursue. However, the charges remain officially pending until Garaufis formally orders their dismissal.

A spokesperson for the Brooklyn US Attorney’s office, which brought the charges, declined to comment.

Adani Group has consistently denied wrongdoing. Adani himself has not appeared in a US court to respond to the charges.

Robert Giuffra, Adani’s lawyer, referred to a letter he sent to Garaufis on Wednesday arguing that the case should be dismissed because it fell beyond the reach of US law and prosecutors would be unable to prove the alleged bribery in India.

Defence Cites ‘Legal and Factual Weaknesses’

Adani was charged in 2024 with allegedly agreeing to bribe Indian government officials so that a subsidiary of Adani Group could secure approval to develop a solar energy plant, before misleading US investors by providing assurances about the company’s anti-corruption practices.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil charges. The SEC has since reached a settlement under which Adani would pay $6 million and his nephew, Sagar Adani, would pay $12 million.

Adani Enterprises has separately agreed to pay $275 million to the US Treasury Department to settle alleged violations of Iran sanctions.

In his June 24 letter, Giuffra said lawyers for Adani and his co-defendants held several meetings with Justice Department officials and submitted nearly 500 pages of material in an effort to demonstrate that the case was flawed.

“The DOJ’s decision reflects its careful consideration of the indictment’s legal and factual weaknesses,” Giuffra wrote.

‘Prosecutorial Discretion’ Cited

In a brief letter to Garaufis last month, senior officials said the Justice Department had “decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants”.

The rank-and-file prosecutors who originally brought the case did not sign the letter.

Justice Department officials in Washington last year also dropped corruption charges brought under Biden against then-New York Mayor Eric Adams, despite objections from the career prosecutors handling the case, several of whom later resigned.

 
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