- Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani have agreed to pay a combined £13 million ($18 million) to settle a US civil fraud lawsuit.
- US regulators had accused the Adanis of misleading investors during a renewable energy fundraising drive.
- Reports in the US media suggest the Justice Department may also move to drop related criminal charges.
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani have agreed to pay a combined £13 million ($18 million) to settle a civil fraud lawsuit brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged investor deception linked to renewable energy projects.
The proposed settlement, which still requires court approval, would resolve allegations made by the regulator in 2024 that the Adanis misled US investors while raising funds through a bond offering tied to Adani Green Energy.
According to the SEC’s complaint, the Adanis were accused of falsely presenting the company as compliant with anti-bribery standards while allegedly paying bribes to Indian officials connected to renewable energy contracts.
The regulator had claimed the company raised around £555 million ($750 million), including approximately £130 million ($175 million) from US investors, during the fundraising process.
The Adani Group has repeatedly denied the allegations and previously described them as “baseless”.
Under the proposed agreement, neither Gautam Adani nor Sagar Adani would admit or deny wrongdoing. However, the settlement would bar them from future violations of major US anti-fraud laws relating to securities fraud, market manipulation and misleading investors.
Markets react as criminal case uncertainty grows
Investors appeared to welcome the development, with shares of several Adani Group companies rising on Friday following news of the proposed settlement.
The agreement also arrived alongside reports that the US Department of Justice may be reconsidering separate criminal fraud charges involving Gautam Adani.
According to reports from The New York Times, Reuters and Bloomberg, prosecutors are reportedly moving towards dropping the criminal case altogether.
The reports suggested the shift came after Adani hired a new legal team led by Robert Giuffra Jr, a prominent US lawyer and adviser to US President Donald Trump.
Giuffra reportedly met Justice Department officials last month to raise concerns about the case and discuss broader economic implications linked to Adani’s planned investments in the US.
According to reporting by The New York Times, Adani had pledged to invest around £7.4 billion ($10 billion) in the US and create roughly 15,000 jobs following Trump’s 2024 election victory.
Sources quoted by the newspaper reportedly suggested the possible dismissal of charges reflected a wider shift under the Trump administration away from aggressively pursuing foreign bribery investigations.
Adani Group remains under global scrutiny
The developments mark another major chapter in the legal and reputational challenges surrounding the Adani empire in recent years.
The Adani Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates, operates across sectors including ports, airports, renewable energy, mining and infrastructure.
The group has faced increased international scrutiny since allegations from short seller Hindenburg Research in 2023 triggered a sharp market sell-off and raised wider questions around corporate governance and debt practices inside the business.
Despite the legal disputes, Gautam Adani remains one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. According to Forbes estimates, the 63-year-old businessman has a net worth of around £61 billion ($82 billion).
The BBC reported it had contacted both the US Department of Justice and the Adani Group for comment regarding the latest developments.
For now, the proposed SEC settlement may ease one immediate legal threat for the Adanis. But uncertainty surrounding the broader US investigations, and how global investors interpret them, is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
