Federal Prosecutors Move to Drop Bribery Case Against Indian Magnate

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn on Monday asked a judge to drop bribery-related charges against the Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, a decision with domestic and geopolitical ramifications that appeared to typify the transactional nature of the Justice Department under President Trump.

In a brief letter, prosecutors said they had decided “not to devote further resources” to the case against Mr. Adani, who had offered to invest $10 billion in the United States while proposing a settlement of both the criminal matter and a parallel civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and seven others.

The S.E.C. announced that Mr. Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, would pay an $18 million fine on Thursday to resolve its case. Earlier on Monday, the Treasury Department announced that it had reached a $275 million settlement with Adani Enterprises Limited to resolve a separate investigation into whether Mr. Adani violated sanctions against Iran.

The Justice Department did not cite the proposed $10 billion investment as a rationale for dropping the case. Justice Department officials had earlier told Robert J. Giuffra Jr., a lawyer for Mr. Adani who has also acted as Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, that the proposal would play no role in the resolution of Mr. Adani’s criminal case, The New York Times reported last week.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/nyregion/gautam-adani-indictment-trump.html