U.S. Set to Drop Charges Against Indian Billionaire Accused of Fraud after he hired Trump's lawyer and offered $10B [View all]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/nyregion/gautam-adani-billionaire-doj-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.iVA.Ao7P.OBbkWZ_qTmhm&smid=url-share

U.S. Set to Drop Charges Against Indian Billionaire Accused of Fraud
The decision came after a meeting in which a lawyer for the billionaire, Gautam Adani, made an unusual offer, according to people familiar with the matter.

When the Justice Department indicted India’s richest man in the final weeks of the Biden administration, prosecutors described an “elaborate” bribery scheme involving “corruption and fraud at the expense of U.S. investors.”

Now, according to several people with knowledge of the case, the Justice Department is planning to drop the charges altogether.

The reversal came after the Indian billionaire, Gautam Adani, hired a new legal team led by Robert J. Giuffra Jr., one of President Trump’s personal lawyers and the co-chairman of the prominent firm Sullivan & Cromwell.

Mr. Giuffra’s efforts on Mr. Adani’s behalf culminated in a previously unreported meeting last month at the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington, according to people familiar with the meeting. Mr. Giuffra ticked through about 100 slides outlining why prosecutors lacked basic evidence, as well as the jurisdiction even to bring the case, one of the people said.

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Another slide also made an unusual offer: If prosecutors dropped the charges, Mr. Adani would be willing to invest $10 billion in the American economy and create 15,000 jobs, echoing a pledge he had made in the wake of Mr. Trump’s election.