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Prosecutors brought bribery charges against billionaire Gautam Adani, one of the richest people in India, alleging the business magnate and seven of his senior executives paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to the Indian government and hid them from US investors.
New York prosecutors allege in an indictment that Adani and his executives promised more than $250 million in bribes to win solar energy contracts from the Indian government between 2020 and 2024.
Those contracts, according to federal prosecutors, were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax over roughly a 20-year period.
Prosecutors allege that Adani personally met with an Indian government official on several occasions in order to advance the elaborate scheme.
In a parallel action, the SEC on Wednesday charged Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC complaint seeks permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and officer and director bars.
"As alleged, Gautam and Sagar Adani induced US 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," a statement from Sanjay Wadhwa, Acting Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in part.
Gautam Adani, the founder and chairman of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, is estimated to be worth more than $85 billion, according to Bloomberg.
The company and the other defendants named in the indictment did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment. Attorneys for Adani could not immediately be reached.
Adani and his executives convinced US investors to buy bonds in one of the companies using false promises, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors say in the indictment that the false statements and misrepresentations that Adani, his nephew, and Adani Green Energy Limited executive Vneet Jaain made and caused others to make "induced investors to purchase bonds and financial institutions to lend money pursuant to terms and at prices that did not account for the true risk associated with the transactions."
During the course of the scheme, prosecutors say that Adani and his executives frequently discussed their alleged corrupt efforts on an electronic messaging app and extensively documented them.
For example, prosecutors say that Sagar Adani used his cell phone to log specific details of the bribes that were promised to government officials.
Prosecutors also said that another defendant, Rupesh Agarwal, sent around Powerpoint and Excel documents that summarized various options for paying and concealing bribe payments.
