Indian Billionaire Gautam Adani Charged by U.S. in $265 Million Bribery Scheme
Indian millionaire Gautam Adani, head of the Adani Group, has been charged by U.S. federal officials with running a $265 million fraud plot. This is a big event. The charges, which were made public on November 20, 2024, say that Adani and other leaders bribed Indian government officials to get rich contracts for solar energy.
The Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Attorney’s Office said that the accusation includes charges of plot to commit securities and wire fraud as well as actual securities fraud. In the alleged plan of bribery, people said they would pay Indian officials more than $265 million in bribes to get contracts worth billions of dollars. The suspects are also accused of lying about the plan to investors in the U.S. and around the world.
#BREAKING United States Justice Department indicts Gautam Adani and 7 other senior executives on charges to bribe Indian officials.
It is alleged that they “orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and… pic.twitter.com/MsM3uS73TK
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 21, 2024
Gautam Adani’s nephew, Sagar Adani, and several other executives from Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Azure Power Global Ltd. are also named in the indictment. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also filed a civil claim, accusing Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Cyril Cabanes, who used to be the head of Azure Power, of breaking the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and other executives were charged with paying more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials and concealing them from US investors https://t.co/aImO9vOcAK
— Bloomberg (@business) November 20, 2024
The accusation says that the suspects planned a complicated scheme to pay off Indian government officials in order to get contracts for solar energy projects. Then, to get more money, they lied to investors and banks, saying that the company had a strong anti-bribery program and that top management had not bribed anyone. According to the SEC’s lawsuit, the suspects got more than $750 million from buyers, with $175 million coming from U.S. investors.
Also Read: CBI Group Karim Bernoussi
The Adani Group’s market value has dropped a great deal because of the fees. The stock prices of Adani Enterprises Ltd. and Adani Green Energy Ltd. dropped by as much as 20% after the news came out. The market value of the group has gone down by about 2 lakh crore.
The Adani Group has said it is not guilty of any crime and is working with the police to settle the matter. Some people in charge of the group are working to fix the issue and make it less of a hindrance to their operations.
