Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest men, has been indicted in New York over an alleged multi-billion-dollar scheme to pay $250m in bribes and conceal the scheme from US investors.
Prosecutors charged the chair of Indian conglomerate Adani Group and two other executives of a renewable energy company with securities fraud and conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud.
The US attorney’s office in Brooklyn accused the executives of agreeing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of bribes to Indian government officials between 2020 and 2024, in a bid to obtain solar energy supply contracts expected to yield $2bn in profits over 20 years.
Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US’s top markets watchdog, charged Adani, 62, and two other executives over conduct it said had arisen out of a “massive bribery scheme”.
Adani Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company’s value came under pressure after allegations of “brazen stock manipulation”, “accounting fraud” and “money laundering” were published by the short seller investment firm Hindenburg Research last year.
Adani denied the Hindenburg claims, which it dismissed as a “malicious” mix of “selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations”.
Breon Peace, US attorney for the eastern district of New York, said the defendants “orchestrated an elaborate scheme” to bribe India’s officials to secure contracts, and lied about the scheme while raising funds.
Lisa Miller, deputy assistant attorney general, said: “This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250m in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice.
“These offenses were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors.”
Gautam Adani is the 18th richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg, with a personal fortune of $85bn.
Prosecutors alleged that, on several occasions, Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the bribery scheme.
The executives are accused of having frequently discussed efforts to further the scheme, including via a messaging app. One of the defendants, Sagar R Adani, tracked “specific details of the bribes offered and promised to government officials” on his phone, according to prosecutors.