Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani have agreed to pay a combined $18m in penalties to settle a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
In 2024, the regulator had accused the Adanis of paying bribes to Indian officials for high-profile renewable energy projects and misleading US investors about anti-bribery practices while trying to raise funds through a bond offering.
The proposed deal is subject to a court’s approval but markets responded positively to the developments, with Adani Group firm shares rising on Friday.
The Adani Group is one of India’s largest business conglomerates with interests in sectors including energy and airports.
The proposed agreement, which does not include any admission or denial of the allegations, also bars the Adanis from future violations of key US anti-fraud laws covering investor deception, securities fraud and market manipulation.
In the 2024 lawsuit, the securities regulator had also accused the Adanis of raising $750m, including approximately $175m from US investors, while allegedly misleading them about Adani Green Energy’s compliance with anti-bribery laws. The Adani Group has called the allegations “baseless”.
According to Forbes, the 63-year-old Adani is worth $82bn, making him one of the world’s richest people.
Separately, the New York Times, Reuters and Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the US Department of Justice was moving to drop criminal fraud charges against the Gautam Adani.
The New York Times reported that the justice department’s reversal came after Adani hired a new team of lawyers led by Robert J Giuffra Jr, head of one of the most powerful law firms in the US and one of President Donald Trump’s personal legal advisers.
Giuffra was one of the lawyers that Trump hired to appeal against his criminal conviction in the hush-money payment case .
According to reporting from the Times, Giuffra met last month with justice department officials, to lay out concerns about the case.
He also reportedly noted that Adani would invest $10bn in the US and create 15,000 jobs if prosecutors dropped the charges against him, repeating a pledge Adani made to Trump shortly after he won the 2024 presidential election.
Sources reportedly told the Times that the dismissal reflected a broader move away from prosecuting foreign bribery cases under the Trump administration.
The BBC has reached out to the US Department of Justice and the Adani Group for a response.
By BBC News
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