The criminal case in the United States involving Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and former Adani Green Energy senior executive Vaneet Jain has been dismissed with prejudice by a federal court in New York.
The case had come into focus after US prosecutors filed an indictment in November 2024. The US Department of Justice had brought charges against Gautam Adani and several others in separate proceedings involving alleged securities fraud, wire fraud and other alleged offences. The Adani side had consistently denied the allegations.
The New York federal court has now dismissed the case with prejudice. Legally, this means the same criminal indictment cannot be brought again on the same basis.
The dismissal with prejudice is significant to the legal status of the criminal proceedings because the existing criminal indictment cannot be refiled in the future on the same basis.
However, the dismissal should not be described directly as a clean chit from the court. The court did not conduct a trial or issue a finding on the truth or falsity of the allegations. Therefore, the order does not constitute a judicial conclusion establishing that the allegations were either true or false.
The US district court record contains an order permanently dismissing the case.
In November 2024, the US Department of Justice brought criminal charges against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, Vaneet Jain and several others. Prosecutors alleged that investors and financial institutions were provided misleading information in connection with an alleged bribery scheme involving projects in India's energy sector and related financial transactions.
The indictment also referred to dollar-denominated financing involving US investors and bond transactions.
At the time, Adani Green Energy had clarified that Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vaneet Jain had not been charged with violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The company said certain interpretations appearing in media reports were incorrect.
The case remained before a US court for nearly two years. After the US government decided not to proceed with the criminal prosecution, the process to formally end the case began.
Following the court's final order, the relevant criminal indictment has now been terminated. The dismissal closes the criminal proceedings related to this case in the United States for Gautam Adani and the other named defendants.
The separate civil case involving the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should be distinguished from the criminal proceedings. The dismissal of the criminal indictment does not mean that all legal matters involving Adani in the United States have ended at the same time.
The SEC action is a separate civil proceeding with its own legal basis and requirements. Therefore, the permanent dismissal of the criminal case should not be treated as the end of every potential legal matter involving the Adani Group in the United States.
