Gautam Adani Nears Resolution Of US Cases As SEC Settles

New York/New Delhi :  Billionaire Gautam Adani is nearing a sweeping resolution of multiple US legal investigations, with the Securities and Exchange Commission settling its civil case and the Justice Department and Treasury Department expected to conclude parallel probes in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter. The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday settled civil allegations against Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, tied to disclosures made to investors in connection with solar energy projects in India. Court records show Gautam Adani agreed to pay USD 6 million and Sagar Adani USD 12 million, without admitting or denying wrongdoing.

After this, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) is preparing to drop criminal charges against the two men, after months of engagement between prosecutors and an expanded legal team led by Robert J Giuffra Jr, a senior partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and one of US President Donald Trump's personal lawyers.

The case brought by the SEC in November 2024, alongside a criminal complaint by the US Department of Justice, alleged that the Adanis orchestrated a scheme to pay USD 265 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts and concealed the scheme from US investors and banks when they raised funds.

Prosecutors charged Adani under securities fraud and wire fraud statutes, though he was not named in the more serious Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bribery counts brought against other defendants.

While Gautam Adani chairs the Adani Group, Sagar Adani is executive director at Adani Green Energy.

The Adani Group has consistently denied wrongdoing and said it maintained strong governance and compliance standards.

The expected reversal follows months of engagement between US authorities and a legal team assembled by the Adanis that included lawyers from Sullivan & Cromwell, Nixon Peabody, Hecker Fink, Norton Rose Fulbright and Bracewell. They argued that prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence and jurisdiction to pursue the case.

The dismissal is expected to be "with prejudice," preventing the case from being reopened, the people said.

The case had drawn scrutiny from legal experts over whether US prosecutors stretched securities laws to pursue conduct centred largely in India. While prosecutors accused associates of involvement in a broader bribery scheme tied to solar contracts, Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and executive Vneet Jaain were charged only under securities fraud and wire fraud statutes, and not under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bribery provisions.

Former SEC commissioner Laura Unger criticised the government's approach, arguing prosecutors had attempted to "shoehorn bribery allegations into a securities fraud case" without a sufficient jurisdictional basis under the FCPA.

Separately, a Treasury Department investigation involving potential Iran sanctions violations is also nearing resolution, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The matter relates to the import of Iranian LPG by a vessel linked to the group and is expected to be resolved through a settlement following voluntary disclosures and cooperation with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. Any settlement is expected to involve financial penalties without admissions of wrongdoing.

If finalized, the resolutions would remove a major legal overhang for the conglomerate, which has continued expanding across infrastructure, ports, transport and energy despite the investigations. Company filings show Adani Group's listed firms reported record EBITDA of USD 5.3 billion in the first half of fiscal year 2026 and are expected to spend nearly USD 17 billion in capital expenditure during the period.

The Adanis' lawyers said there was no credible evidence supporting ​the alleged bribery scheme.

The SEC, they said, lacked necessary jurisdiction over the two men and that the alleged misstatements underpinning the case weren't actionable.

The Adani group, which spans green energy, ports, realty, mining and news media, has continued to raise funds from global investors, including BlackRock, since the charges were filed.