Shares of Adani Group companies gained up to 5% after the US Department of Justice dropped all criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, bringing the securities and wire fraud case in New York to a close.
This development ended a 19-month period that tested the group's ability to raise funds for expansion and led to the loss of contracts.
Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani Group, gained 3% to hit an intraday high of Rs 2,774, while Adani Green Energy rallied over 5% to Rs 1,442.70. Adani Power rose 3% to Rs 225 apiece, while Adani Ports gained 1%. Adani Energy Solutions climbed 3% to an intraday high of Rs 1,362, while Adani Total Gas jumped 4% to Rs 636 on Tuesday.
Separately, the conglomerate agreed to settle civil charges with the US Treasury Department for violating sanctions through a $275 million payment without admitting wrongdoing. The defendants in the proceedings were Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, Vneet Jaain, Ranjit Gupta, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal.
According to company disclosures, Adani Enterprises agreed to settle its potential civil liability arising from apparent violations of OFAC sanctions against Iran. The company said the settlement does not constitute an admission of guilt or wrongdoing and resolves all related liabilities.
In a filing before the court, the US Justice Department sought dismissal of the indictment against the Adanis with prejudice.
“The Department of Justice has reviewed this case and has decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants,” the filing said. The court subsequently ordered that the indictment against Adani and others “be dismissed with prejudice”.
The decision marks a major reversal in a case that had cast uncertainty over the Adani Group’s international expansion ambitions.
The SEC and DOJ cases, filed in late 2024, had alleged that the Adanis were involved in a $265 million bribery scheme linked to Indian officials to secure solar power contracts. Prosecutors also alleged that the arrangement was concealed from US investors and lenders while the group was raising capital.
Separately, Adani had earlier agreed to pay an $18 million settlement in a US civil court case connected to corruption allegations involving government authorities. He had been accused of participating in an estimated $250 million scheme to bribe officials in exchange for lucrative solar energy supply contracts.
According to a New York Times report last week, Adani appointed a new legal team led by Robert J. Giuffra Jr., one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers and co-chairman of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell.
Also read: Sensex, Nifty today: Catch all the LIVE stock market action here
The report added that Adani’s legal representatives met officials in the U.S. Justice Department headquarters last month and proposed that if prosecutors agreed to drop the charges, Adani would commit $10 billion in investments into the U.S. economy and create 15,000 jobs.
The report added that Giuffra was also working to settle parallel civil cases brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a separate investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
