US judge dismisses criminal case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani, the Indian infrastructure magnate who controls one of the world’s largest conglomerates, is on the verge of walking away from one of the most high-profile US federal prosecutions of a foreign business figure in recent memory. A judge in the Eastern District of New York is moving toward formally dismissing criminal charges against Adani and seven of his executives, following a motion filed by the Department of Justice to drop the case entirely.

The case had been a cloud over the Adani Group since December 2024, when a federal grand jury indicted Adani on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, and bribery. The core allegation: that Adani and his associates paid more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy supply contracts.

How a major federal case quietly reversed course

On May 18, 2026, the DOJ filed a motion to dismiss all charges with prejudice, citing prosecutorial discretion. “With prejudice” is the legal equivalent of a one-way door: the government cannot bring the same charges again. The move came roughly five months into the Trump administration, and the abrupt reversal drew immediate scrutiny from legal observers who noted the sharp contrast with the prior administration’s aggressive posture on foreign bribery enforcement.

Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, who presided over the case, was not inclined to rubber-stamp the dismissal. He pushed back, demanding that the DOJ provide further justification for why it was abandoning charges of this magnitude. He also required Adani to submit a sworn affidavit by mid-July 2026, specifically addressing whether any agreement or understanding existed between Adani and the US government that might have motivated the dismissal.

Adani filed the affidavit and denied any knowledge of a quid pro quo arrangement. With that threshold met, the case moved toward the formal dismissal the DOJ had requested. As of early August 2026, that closure appears imminent.

Regulatory penalties, a settlement, and what investors are watching

The criminal case was not the only legal front Adani was managing. The Securities and Exchange Commission pursued parallel civil proceedings, and the Adani Group ultimately agreed to pay an $18 million penalty, with Adani personally contributing $6 million of that amount. A separate $275 million settlement tied to sanctions-related matters involving Adani Enterprises was also reportedly resolved as part of the broader legal unwinding.

When the indictment landed in December 2024, shares in several Adani-linked listed companies took sharp hits. Institutional lenders and bond investors were forced to revisit exposure. The Hindenburg Research short-seller report in early 2023 had already seeded doubt about the group’s governance; the federal indictment deepened those concerns substantially.

The broader story this case tells about foreign bribery enforcement is worth tracking beyond the Adani outcome. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the statute at the center of the original charges, has historically been one of the DOJ’s most aggressive tools for pursuing overseas corruption. The decision to drop the Adani prosecution with prejudice, under a new administration and without a negotiated resolution, represents a meaningful data point about where enforcement priorities now sit.

Adani, for his part, has consistently denied wrongdoing throughout the proceedings. His group has framed the resolution as a vindication.

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