Indian Billionaire Gautam Adani Indicted For 'Massive Fraud' And 'Multi-Billion Dollar' Bribery Scheme

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted in New York for 'massive fraud' and a 'multi-billion dollar' bribery scheme, according to multiple reports Wednesday afternoon. 

According to NBC, Gautam Adani and others are accused of paying over $250 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts expected to yield $2 billion in profits over 20 years. Prosecutors allege Adani personally met with officials as part of the scheme.

Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and Vneet Jaain, both Adani Green Energy executives, also face wire and securities fraud charges for misleading U.S. investors and lenders to obtain funding, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn stated.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace commented: "The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors."

A DOJ press release reads: “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 U.S. investors.  The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively prosecute corrupt, deceptive, and obstructive conduct that violates U.S. law, no matter where in the world it occurs.” 

“Gautam S. Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses. Adani and other defendants also defrauded investors by raising capital on the basis of false statements about bribery and corruption, while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government’s investigation,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Dennehy.  “The FBI maintains its steadfast mission to expose all corrupt agreements, especially with international governments, and protect investors from related harm.”

The indictment also charges former Azure Power executives Ranjit Gupta and Rupash Agarwal, along with three ex-employees of Canadian investor Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as part of Adani's bribery scheme.

U.S. short seller Hindenburg Research issued a report in early 2023 claiming Adani Group conducted a "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades." Hindenburg called Adani Group "the largest con in corporate history". 

"Today we reveal the findings of our 2-year investigation, presenting evidence that the INR 17.8 trillion (US $218 billion) Indian conglomerate Adani Group has engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades," the report said in 2023. 

Adani "has amassed a net worth of roughly $120 billion, adding over $100 billion in the past 3 years largely through stock price appreciation in the group's 7 key listed companies, which have spiked an average of 819% in that period," the report said. 

Bloomberg provided a quick snapshot of Hindenburg's main allegations at the time, many of which haven't even been addressed in this indictment (yet?):

• Identified 38 Mauritius shell entities controlled by Adani's brother, Vinod Adani, or his close associates plus entities controlled by him in other tax havens.
• The offshore shell network seems to be used for earnings manipulation
• Adani Group has previously been the focus of 4 major government investigations relating to allegations of fraud
• Adani Enterprises and Adani Total Gas Ltd. appear to be audited by a tiny firm, with no current website, only 4 partners and 11 employees which has audited just one other listed firm
• The auditor "hardly seems capable of complex audit work" when Adani Enterprises alone has 156 subsidiaries and many more joint ventures.

Hindenburg's report initially led to a $50 billion selloff in Adani's corporate empire. Adani, in response, called Hindenburg's short report "bogus" and threatened legal action. At the time, Adani Group's legal team released a statement that said it was exploring legal action against Hindenburg for its "maliciously mischievous, unresearched" report.

Then, Dan McCrum, famous for helping unveil the fraud at Wirecard, followed up in late 2023 stating Adani "appears to have imported billions of dollars of coal at prices well above market value".

Adani called McCrum's article a "renewed attempt" by the paper to "rehash old and baseless allegations to tarnish the name and standing" of the company. At the time they denied any wrongdoing and said the story was based on an “old, baseless allegation”, and is “a clever recycling and selective misrepresentation of publicly available facts and information”.

"Adani is attacking journalist Dan McCrum at the Financial Times (FT) over an upcoming article," Hindenburg's Anderson wrote late last year after Adani's press release. "The last company that tried that was Wirecard, later found to be the largest fraud in German history."