The US Justice Department is close to dropping criminal fraud charges against Gautam Adani, an Indian billionaire who has promised to invest $10 billion in the US economy, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Adani, a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday (May 14) also resolved a related civil fraud lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission over an alleged scheme to bribe Indian government officials.
The possible dismissal of the criminal charges comes after Adani’s lawyer, Robert Giuffra, who is also a personal attorney of US President Donald Trump, told Justice Department officials in a presentation last month that Adani could not make that investment while the case was proceeding, one of the sources said. Adani had publicly promised to invest that amount and create 15,000 jobs in the US after Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
Giuffra spent the bulk of his 100-page presentation arguing the case was weak because it didn’t have proper jurisdiction and lacked evidence, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Giuffra made a similar argument in court filings in a parallel US Securities and Exchange Commission case last month.
Some prosecutors made clear that the $10 billion investment would not affect the case, one of the sources said. It’s unclear if others saw it differently.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
