Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged with fraud in the United States, accused of orchestrating a $250 million (£198 million) bribery scheme and concealing it to secure funding in the US.
The criminal charges, filed in New York on Wednesday, mark a significant setback for the 62-year-old tycoon, whose vast business empire spans industries such as ports, airports, and renewable energy.
Prosecutors allege that Adani and other senior executives arranged payments to Indian officials to secure lucrative contracts for his renewable energy company, with projected profits exceeding $2 billion over 20 years.
The Adani Group has not issued a response to the allegations.
Following the charges, shares of Adani Group companies plummeted by more than 10% in Thursday morning trading, wiping out approximately $30 billion in market value. Adani Green Energy, the company at the center of the allegations, also announced the cancellation of a $600 million bond offering.
The conglomerate has faced scrutiny in the US since 2023, when a prominent company published a report accusing it of fraud. Adani denied the claims, but the report triggered a significant market sell-off.
Prosecutors revealed that the bribery investigation began in 2022 and alleged that efforts to obstruct the inquiry were uncovered during the probe.
They allege that executives raised $3bn in loans and bonds, including from US firms, on the backs of false and misleading statements related to the firm’s anti-bribery practices and policies, as well as reports of the bribery probe.
“As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and… lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement announcing the charges.
“My office is committed to rooting out corruption in the international marketplace and protecting investors from those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets,” he added.
On several occasions Mr Adani met personally with government officials to advance the bribery scheme, officials said.
Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, called the charges a “body blow” to the tycoon.
“For the last nearly two years, Mr Adani has been trying to rehabilitate his image, and [trying] to show that those earlier fraud allegations levelled by the Hindenburg group were not true, and his company and his businesses had actually been doing quite well,” he told the BBC’s Business Today programme.
The allegations by the US Department of Justice could prove more challenging for Gautam Adani to “shake off,” according to experts.
Adani, a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has frequently faced accusations from opposition politicians alleging that his business empire has benefited from his political connections—claims he has consistently denied.
In the US, Attorney positions are presidential appointments, and the timing of the filing is notable. It comes just weeks after Donald Trump won the presidential election, with promises to reform the US Justice Department.
Last week, Adani took to social media to congratulate Trump on his electoral victory, further announcing plans to invest $10 billion in the United States.