US judge seeks more details from Adani on DOJ move to drop bribery case

A US judge pressed Gautam Adani for more details on the Justice Department’s move to dismiss a blockbuster criminal case against the Indian billionaire.

In a brief order late Wednesday, US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn, New York, directed Adani to answer two questions in writing, under oath, by July 15. In late 2024, Adani and others were accused by US prosecutors of a scheme to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to lock in solar energy contracts — allegations he has consistently denied.

The judge wrote:

“1. Are you aware of anything promised, offered, sought, received, agreed to, or accepted, by anyone, in connection with the dismissal of the indictment?”

“2. Are you aware of any agreement exchanging anything for the dismissal of the indictment?”

Robert Giuffra Jr., a lawyer for Adani, declined to comment. Giuffra has previously urged dismissal of the case, saying it has “legal and factual weaknesses.”

Federal prosecutors generally have wide discretion to drop criminal cases, and judges have little power to stop them. The Justice Department said in May it had decided “not to devote further resources to these criminal charges.” Garaufis in June demanded further information, saying the Trump administration had failed to explain why dismissal was justified.

In response, a top department official said that securities charges against Adani never should have been brought in the first place, in the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency. The department’s principal associate deputy attorney general, R. Trent McCotter, argued in a July 4 filing that the case was a foreign matter that would have presented “extraordinary proof problems” and that “not a single penny has ever been lost on the securities at issue.”

McCotter also said the decision to move to drop the case was entirely based on a review of the merits of the matter and that a pledge by Adani to invest in the US did not play a role in the decision.

The billionaire had publicly said he planned to invest $10 billion just after Americans elected Trump as president in late 2024. Among more than 100 slides that Adani’s legal team used to argue against the criminal case this year was one that referenced the $10 billion pledge, Bloomberg has reported.