US judge dismisses criminal case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani, the Indian infrastructure magnate who controls one of the world’s largest conglomerates, is on the verge of walking away from one of the most high-profile US federal prosecutions of a foreign business figure in recent memory. A judge in the Eastern District of New York is moving toward formally dismissing criminal charges against Adani and seven of his executives, following a motion filed by the Department of Justice to drop the case entirely. The case had been a cloud over the Adani Group since December 2024, when a federal grand jury indicted Adani on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, and bribery. The core allegation: that Adani and his associates paid more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy supply contracts. How a major federal case quietly reversed course On May 18, 2026, the DOJ filed a motion to dismiss all charges with prejudice, citing prosecutorial discretion. “With prejudice” is the legal equivalent of a one-way door: the government cannot bring the same charges again. The move came roughly five months into the Trump administration, and the abrupt reversal drew immediate scrutiny from legal observers who ...