FILE PHOTO: India’s Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani addresses the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, India, Jan.10, 2024. – Gudani, who is one of the world’s richest people, has been indicted in the US on charges he duped investors by concealing that an alleged bribery scheme was facilitating his company’s huge solar energy project on the subcontinent. (Associated Press Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)
NEW YORK — An Indian businessman, who is one of the world’s richest people, has been indicted in the US on charges he duped investors by concealing that an alleged bribery scheme was facilitating his company’s huge solar energy project on the subcontinent.
Gautam Adani, 62, was charged in an indictment unsealed Wednesday with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. The case involves a lucrative arrangement for Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government — enough to light millions of homes and businesses.
Article continues after this advertisementThe indictment portrays Adani and his co-defendants as playing two sides of the deal.
FEATURED STORIES BUSINESS BIZ BUZZ: Meralco rock star is born BUSINESS BDO gets SEC nod for merger with The Podium BUSINESS Peso sinks to 58.9 per $1, lowest in over 2 yearsIt accuses them of portraying it as rosy and above-board to Wall Street investors who poured several billion dollars into the project while, back in India, they were paying or planning to pay about $265 million in bribes to government officials in exchange for billions of dollars’ worth of contracts and financing.
Adani and his co-defendants allegedly sought to “obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller said.
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: India’s Adani slashes electricity to Bangladesh: power officials
Article continues after this advertisementIn a parallel civil action, the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused Adani and two co-defendants of violating antifraud provisions of US securities laws. The regulator is seeking monetary penalties and other sanctions.
Article continues after this advertisementBoth cases were filed in federal court in Brooklyn. Adani’s co-defendants include his nephew Sagar Adani, the executive director of Adani Green Energy’s board, and Vneet Jaain, who was the company’s chief executive from 2020 to 2023 and remains managing director of its board.
Online court records did not list lawyers who could speak on the defendants’ behalf. An email message seeking comment was left with an arm of Adani’s company, the Adani Group.
Article continues after this advertisementSanjay Wadhwa, acting director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said Gautam and Sagar Adani are accused of persuading investors to buy their company’s bonds by misrepresenting “not only that Adani Green had a robust anti-bribery compliance program but also that the company’s senior management had not and would not pay or promise to pay bribes.”
READ: Gautam Adani, one of India’s most powerful men, suffers a rare defeat
Adani is a power player in the world’s most populous nation. He built his fortune in the coal business in the 1990s. The Adani Group grew to involve many aspects of Indian life, from making defense equipment to building roads to selling cooking oil.
In recent years, Adani has made big moves into renewable energy, embracing a philosophy of sustainable growth reflected in its slogan: “Growth with Goodness.”
Last year, a US-based financial research firm accused Adani and his company of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud.” The Adani Group called the claims “a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations.”
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The firm in question is known as a short-sellerlucky sprite, a Wall Street term for traders that essentially bet on the prices of certain stocks to fall, and it had made such investments in relation to the Adani Group.
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