US Justice Department Says Adani Case Should Never Have Been Filed, Requests Permanent Dismissal
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has submitted a detailed filing to a federal judge, arguing that the criminal case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and seven co-accused was legally flawed and should have been dropped a year ago or never brought at all. The department is seeking a permanent dismissal of the charges.
In a 10-page document, the DoJ defended its decision to abandon the prosecution, which was initiated under the previous administration in 2024. The department stated that the case was diplomatically counterproductive and inconsistent with the enforcement priorities of the current administration. The filing came in response to U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis's request for an explanation after he had described the earlier motion to dismiss as "terse, bland, and conclusory."
The original indictment alleged that Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and others were involved in a scheme to bribe Indian government officials to the tune of $250 million and to mislead investors. It claimed that Adani Green Energy Limited raised at least $175 million from U.S. investors during the alleged scheme.
Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter, who authored the filing, stated that his decision to seek dismissal was reached after months of meetings with defence lawyers, reviewing hundreds of pages of submissions, and conducting his own legal analysis. He described the decision as "not a close call."
The DoJ cited six overarching reasons for dropping all charges: the alleged conduct was primarily centred in India; Indian authorities investigated the allegations and found no actionable misconduct; investors suffered no financial losses; key evidence and witnesses are located abroad; the defendants are unlikely to appear before a U.S. court; and the prosecution faced significant evidentiary hurdles.
McCotter wrote, "This is a foreign case," describing the indictment as concerning "several Indians ... allegedly trying to bribe other Indians by paying the Indian government via complex Indian rebate programs to get Indian contracts to provide Indian electricity to Indians in India." He argued that the United States acting as "the world police" can cause diplomatic tension and waste resources better spent on domestic issues.
The filing also challenged the securities fraud charges, asserting that the alleged misconduct occurred almost entirely outside the United States and failed to meet U.S. jurisdictional requirements. It noted that investors had not lost money, as the notes in question were either fully repaid or continued to be serviced. The DoJ further questioned whether the statements cited in the indictment amounted to criminal fraud, describing them as corporate "platitudes" and "puffery" that sophisticated institutional investors were unlikely to have relied upon.
The DoJ concluded that the securities charges should never have been filed, suggesting that the allegations warranted civil, rather than criminal, consequences. The judge has not yet ruled on the motion to dismiss.
