New York/New Delhi, May 15 -- Billionaire Gautam Adani is nearing a sweeping resolution of multiple US legal investigations, with the Securities and Exchange Commission settling its civil case and the Department of Justice and Treasury Department expected to conclude parallel investigations in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter.
The SEC on Thursday settled civil allegations against Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani tied to disclosures made to investors in connection with solar energy projects in India.
Court filings showed Gautam Adani agreed to pay $6 million and Sagar Adani $12 million, without admitting or denying wrongdoing.
The proposed settlements mark a dramatic turn in a case that had threatened to disrupt the global expansion plans of the Adani Group.
The SEC and DOJ cases, filed in late 2024, alleged the Adanis orchestrated a $265 million bribery scheme involving Indian officials to secure solar power contracts and concealed the arrangement from US investors and lenders while raising capital.
People familiar with the matter said the DoJ is preparing to dismiss criminal charges against the two men after months of engagement between prosecutors and an expanded legal team led by Robert J. Giuffra Jr., a senior partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and one of US President Donald Trump's personal lawyers.
The dismissal is expected to be "with prejudice," preventing the case from being reopened.
The expected resolution follows a broader retreat by the Trump administration from aggressive overseas bribery enforcement. Earlier this year, Trump suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, arguing the law hurt American competitiveness abroad.
The Adani legal team, which included lawyers from Sullivan & Cromwell, Nixon Peabody, Hecker Fink, Norton Rose Fulbright and Bracewell, argued prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence and jurisdiction to pursue the case.
Legal experts had also questioned whether US authorities stretched securities laws to pursue conduct centred largely in India.
Separately, a Treasury Department investigation involving potential Iran sanctions violations is also nearing resolution, according to people familiar with the
discussions.
The matter relates to alleged imports of Iranian LPG by a vessel linked to the group and is expected to be settled through cooperation with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, potentially involving financial penalties without admissions of wrongdoing.
Markets welcomed the developments, with Adani Group dollar bonds rallying after news of the SEC settlement and expectations that the conglomerate could soon regain easier access to international capital markets.
The Adani Group has consistently denied wrongdoing and maintained that it follows strong governance and compliance standards.
Despite the investigations, the conglomerate continued expanding across infrastructure, ports, transport and energy businesses, reporting record EBITDA of $5.3 billion in the first half of fiscal year 2026 and planning nearly $17 billion in capital expenditure during the period.
Prosecutors had charged Adani under securities fraud and wire fraud statutes, though he was not named in the more serious Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bribery counts brought against other defendants.
While Gautam Adani chairs the Adani Group, Sagar Adani is executive director at Adani Green Energy.
The Adani Group has consistently denied wrongdoing and said it maintained strong governance and compliance standards.
The case had drawn scrutiny from legal experts over whether US prosecutors stretched securities laws to pursue conduct centred largely in India.
While prosecutors accused associates of involvement in a broader bribery scheme tied to solar contracts, Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and executive Vneet Jaain were charged only under securities fraud and wire fraud statutes, and not under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bribery provisions.
Former SEC commissioner Laura Unger criticised the government's approach, arguing prosecutors had attempted to "shoehorn bribery allegations into a securities fraud case" without a sufficient jurisdictional basis under the FCPA.
The separate Treasury Department investigation relates to the import of Iranian LPG by a vessel linked to the group and is expected to be resolved through a settlement following voluntary disclosures and cooperation with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. Any settlement is expected to involve financial penalties without admissions of wrongdoing.
If finalised, the resolutions would remove a major legal overhang for the conglomerate, which has continued expanding across infrastructure, ports, transport and energy despite the investigations. The conglomerate had continued to raise funds from global investors, including BlackRock, since the charges were filed.
The Adanis' lawyers said there was no credible evidence supporting the alleged bribery scheme.
The SEC, they said, lacked necessary jurisdiction over the two men and that the alleged misstatements underpinning the case weren't actionable.
Adani's legal team last month made an extensive presentation at the Justice Department's headquarters in Washington, arguing that prosecutors lacked both sufficient evidence and jurisdiction to pursue the case against the billionaire, according to people familiar with the matter.
Giuffra presented about 100 slides outlining why the case lacked a proper legal basis and evidentiary support.
Sources said Giuffra also told Justice Department officials that Adani would be unable to proceed with planned investments in the United States while the criminal case remained active.
Adani had publicly pledged after Trump's 2024 election victory to invest $10 billion in the US and create 15,000 jobs.
According to sources, most of Giuffra's presentation focused on arguments that the alleged conduct fell outside US jurisdiction and that prosecutors lacked credible evidence to sustain securities and wire fraud charges. Similar arguments were made in court filings submitted last month in the parallel civil case brought by the US SEC.
Last year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) dismissed three allegations against Adani and senior executives linked to alleged stock manipulation, insider trading and non-disclosure of related-party transactions. The allegations had been raised by now-shuttered US short-seller Hindenburg Research.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.