By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Gautam Adani, the billionaire chairman of Indian conglomerate Adani Group and one of the world’s richest people, has been indicted in New York for his role in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme worth billions of dollars, they said U.S. prosecutors Wednesday. .
Authorities said Adani and seven other defendants, including his cousin Sagar Adani, agreed to pay approximately $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to generate $2 billion in profits over 20 years, and to develop India’s largest solar power plant project.
Prosecutors also said the Adanis and another Adani Green Energy executive, former CEO Vneet Jaain, raised more than $3 billion in loans and bonds by hiding their corruption from lenders and investors.
According to an indictment, some conspirators privately referred to Gautam Adani by the code names “Numero uno” and “the big man”, while Sagar Adani allegedly used his cell phone to track down details of the bribes.
Adani Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment after hours in India, where the allegations were announced early Thursday morning.
The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Attorneys for the defendants could not immediately be identified.
Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Jaain were charged with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and bank fraud conspiracy, and the Adanis were also charged in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil case.
The other five suspects were charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. anti-bribery law, and four were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.
None of the defendants are in custody, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn said. Gautam Adani is believed to be in India.
BUILT EMPIRE
The 62-year-old Adani is worth $69.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine, and is one of the few billionaires formally charged with criminal misconduct in the United States.
His fortune makes him the 22nd richest person in the world, and the second richest person in India, after Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, according to Forbes.
Adani grew up in the Indian state of Gujarat and dropped out of school at the age of 16.
He founded the Adani Group in 1988 as a commodities trading firm, building a business empire that included airports, shipping ports, power generation, energy transmission and mining companies.
The indictment was announced hours after Adani raised $600 million on Wednesday by selling 20-year “green” bonds.
They also came almost two years after US short seller Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of illegally using offshore tax havens, which the company denied.
Hindenburg’s January 2023 report led to a collapse in Adani Group’s shares worth about $150 billion.
ADANI PLANNED INVESTMENTS, CONGRATULATIONS TRUMP
Others criminally charged Wednesday include Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former CEO and former chief strategy and commercial officer respectively of Azure Power Global, who authorities said agreed to pay part of the bribes.
The remaining criminal defendants worked for Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, a Canadian institutional investor, including Cyril Cabanes, who was also a director of Azure. He was also accused of misconduct by the SEC.
All the defendants are Indian nationals, with the exception of Cabanes, a dual French-Australian citizen who has been living in Singapore, prosecutors said.
According to court documents, a judge has issued arrest warrants for Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, and prosecutors plan to hand over these arrest warrants to foreign law enforcement agencies.
Last week, Gautam Adani posted on social media platform
Adani announced the investment and also congratulated US President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory.
Trump has promised to make it easier for energy companies to drill on federal land and build new pipelines.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also from Gujarat, has been accused by political opponents of protecting Adani and his companies, including from Hindenburg’s accusations. Modi has dismissed the opposition’s claims as ‘lies and abuse’.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel in New York; additional reporting by Carolina Mandl and Shankar Ramakrishnan; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Stephen Coates)
