The U.S. Justice Department is poised to drop criminal charges against Gautam Adani, according to multiple outlets that reported the development on Thursday. first reported that prosecutors were moving forward with plans to drop the indictment, and the department could formally dismiss the case as soon as this week.
The shift would mark a major turn for Adani, who chairs the India-based Adani Group and was indicted in November 2024 on allegations tied to a $250 million bribery scheme. Prosecutors said Adani and other executives bribed Indian government officials to win solar energy supply contracts, then concealed the scheme while seeking funding from U.S. and international investors. Adani and his co-executives denied the allegations and moved to dismiss the Securities and Exchange Commission’s related civil case, which makes similar claims.
The possible end to the criminal case comes after months of legal and political pressure around one of India’s most closely watched business figures. reported that the Justice Department’s decision followed Adani’s hiring of Robert J. Giuffra, who has been one of President Donald Trump’s personal attorneys. The Times also reported that at an April meeting, Adani’s lawyers offered to invest $10 billion in the U.S. economy and create 15,000 jobs if the charges were dropped, and that the proposal received a favorable response from Justice Department officials. Prosecutors said the offer would play no role in the resolution of the case.
The timing matters because the criminal case and the SEC matter have hung over Adani for months while he remained one of the most powerful businessmen in India. The SEC may also settle its separate civil case, which centers on the same alleged bribery scheme linked to solar contracts. As of Thursday afternoon, Forbes valued Adani’s net worth at $82 billion, up $3.5 billion from Wednesday, leaving him the second-richest person in India and No. 24 on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
If the Justice Department does formally dismiss the charges this week, Adani would walk out of one of the highest-profile corruption cases involving an Indian tycoon with his core business empire intact, even as the civil case still leaves one front of the fight open.
