Gautam Adani (from Adani Group website)
The SEC has leveled serious charges against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Cyril Cabanes for their involvement in a massive bribery scheme. A consortium led by Gautam Adani’s Adani Group purchased the port of Haifa in Israel in 2023 for $1.15 billion.
A federal court in Brooklyn has unsealed a damning indictment against Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani, Vneet S. Jaain, Ranjit Gupta, Rupesh Agarwal, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra. The defendants are charged with orchestrating a massive fraud and bribery scheme to secure a multi-billion-dollar solar energy project. The indictment alleges that the defendants defrauded U.S. investors and bribed officials to obtain the lucrative project.
The alleged scheme, said the SEC, designed to capitalize on a significant solar energy project awarded by the Indian government, involved Adani Green Energy and Azure Power Global. While this scheme was underway, Adani Green raised over $175 million from U.S. investors, and Azure Power’s stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
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“As alleged, Gautam and Sagar Adani induced U.S. investors to buy Adani Green bonds through an offering process that misrepresented 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, and Cyril Cabanes participated in the underlying bribery scheme while serving as director of a U.S. public company,” said Sanjay Wadhwa, Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
“As alleged, 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,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “My Office is committed to rooting out corruption in the international marketplace and protecting investors from those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets.”
The SEC’s complaint against Gautam and Sagar Adani charges them with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and officer and director bars. The SEC’s complaint against Cabanes charges him with violating the FCPA and seeks a permanent injunction, a civil penalty, and an officer and director bar. Both complaints were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
As alleged in the indictment, between approximately 2020 and 2024, the defendants agreed to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the Indian government, which were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax over an approximately 20-year period (the Bribery Scheme). On several occasions, Gautam S. Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the Bribery Scheme, and the defendants held in-person meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its execution.
Gautam Adani is an Indian billionaire business magnate who is the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, a multinational conglomerate involved in port development and operations in India. 1 He is one of the richest people in the world
