A US judge has dismissed criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, while sharply criticising the Justice Department’s handling of its decision to abandon the high-profile fraud and bribery prosecution.
Brooklyn-based US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis granted federal prosecutors’ request to dismiss the case on Monday after previously questioning their reasons for seeking to abandon the charges. The judge had specifically examined whether Adani’s November 2024 pledge to invest $10 billion in the United States had influenced the Justice Department’s decision.
Garaufis concluded that the investment pledge did not factor into the department’s decision. He nevertheless expressed concern about the process by which prosecutors decided to abandon the case, particularly the role of Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter.
“The irregularities in the decision to dismiss the indictment are concerning,” Garaufis wrote. He said McCotter appeared to have disregarded the professional views of officials across several federal offices and substituted them with his own judgement.
The judge’s criticism centred on McCotter’s decision to work with Adani’s defence lawyers in determining whether the charges should be dismissed without seeking input from prosecutors or agents who had investigated the case. A Justice Department spokesperson referred to a July 4 filing in which McCotter said he had reached the decision after meeting defence lawyers and other Justice Department lawyers and conducting his own research and analysis.
The Justice Department had said the case was primarily foreign, difficult to prove and inconsistent with its current priorities. The decision represents another instance during President Donald Trump’s second term in which federal prosecutors have sought to abandon a high-profile white-collar criminal prosecution.
Adani was charged in 2024 with agreeing to bribe Indian government officials so that a subsidiary of the Adani Group could secure approval to develop a solar energy plant. Prosecutors also accused him of misleading US investors by providing reassuring information about his company’s anti-corruption practices. Adani Group has consistently denied wrongdoing, and Adani himself has not appeared in a US court to respond to the charges.
The dismissal does not amount to a judicial finding that the allegations lacked merit. Garaufis explicitly said his decision should not be interpreted as agreement with the Justice Department’s decision to drop the charges or as an assessment of the merits of the underlying case. He also requested additional information from prosecutors before deciding whether charges against other defendants should be dismissed.
The question of Adani’s US investment pledge remained a central issue during the judge’s review. In a sworn declaration filed on July 15, Adani acknowledged that he had previously promised to invest $10 billion in the United States. He said his lawyers had told the Justice Department during meetings that the pledge “might be part of a resolution of these matters”.
Robert Giuffra, a lawyer for Adani, separately stated that the defendants had told the Justice Department that the Adani Group was “amenable” to following through on the investment pledge as part of a resolution of the case.
McCotter denied what he described as media reports suggesting that he had sought to dismiss the prosecution partly because of Adani’s investment promise. Garaufis said he took “no position on the ultimate propriety of Mr. Giuffra’s repeat attempts to resolve this bribery case with monetary offers”.
Instead, the judge left the wider question to public scrutiny, writing: “It is up to the public to decide what effect offers of this kind have on the equal administration of justice and the rule of law.”
The criminal case is not the only US legal matter involving the Adani Group. In a separate resolution of civil charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Gautam Adani agreed to pay $6 million, while his nephew Sagar Adani agreed to pay $12 million. Adani Enterprises Limited has separately agreed to pay $275 million to the US Treasury Department to settle alleged violations of Iran sanctions.
Adani welcomed the dismissal, saying in a statement posted on X: “I welcome the U.S. Court’s decision with humility and deep respect for the judicial process.”
The ruling therefore ends the criminal case against Adani while leaving unresolved broader questions about the Justice Department’s decision-making process and the relationship between prosecutorial priorities, negotiated resolutions and the administration of justice.
