Gautam Adani, the chairman of India’s Adani Group and one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, was indicted along with seven other men in a New York federal court on charges related to a significant bribery and fraud scheme, authorities announced on Wednesday.
The indictment alleges that Adani and several co-defendants paid over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy supply contracts that generated more than $2 billion in profits.
The 62-year-old billionaire, along with two executives from Adani Green Energy Limited—his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain—faces charges of misleading U.S. and international investors regarding the company’s adherence to anti-bribery and anti-corruption regulations while raising more than $3 billion in capital to support these energy contracts. All three are charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and securities fraud.
The five-count indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, also implicates Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives at Azure Power Global, as well as three former employees of the Canadian institutional investor Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec: Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra. These defendants are accused of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the bribery scheme orchestrated by Adani and his associates.
Additionally, Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Malhotra, and Rupesh Agarwal face charges of conspiring to obstruct U.S. federal criminal and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations related to the bribery scheme.
Although the alleged criminal activities took place in India, the defendants are being prosecuted in Brooklyn federal court due to actions linked to the bribery scheme and fundraising efforts that occurred in the Eastern District of New York. This includes claims of false statements or omissions related to a bond issuance that raised capital for the solar energy contracts.
As of now, none of the defendants are in U.S. custody. Most of them, except for Cabanes, reside in India. Cabanes is reported to live in both France and Australia.
In conjunction with the indictment, the SEC filed civil complaints against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Cabanes, alleging involvement in bribery that allowed Adani Green Energy and Azure Power to benefit from government-awarded solar energy contracts. The SEC’s complaints indicate that during the alleged scheme, Adani Green raised over $175 million from U.S. investors, while Azure’s stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
The SEC stated, “Gautam and Sagar Adani orchestrated a bribery scheme that involved paying or promising to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials to secure their commitment to purchase energy at above-market rates, benefiting Adani Green and Azure Power.” It further claimed that Cabanes facilitated the authorization of these bribes both in the U.S. and abroad.
Gautam Adani, with a reported net worth of $85 billion, is the second-richest person in Asia. However, he faced significant financial losses in early 2023 following a report from the short-selling firm Hindenburg Research, which accused the Adani Group of engaging in extensive stock manipulation and accounting fraud. Hindenburg characterized the situation as “the largest con in corporate history,” to which Adani responded with a 413-page document denouncing the allegations as unfounded.
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