Democratic senators are questioning why the Justice Department moved to drop fraud charges against billionaire Indian businessman Gautam Adani, a significant reversal in a high-profile case.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wrote a letter asking acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about the “reportedly ‘transactional nature’” of the decision to forgo the case.Adani, who is estimated to be worth more than $100 billion and was considered the richest person in India, was indicted in 2024 in the Eastern District of New York over his suspected role in a massive fraud and bribery scheme, in which he is accused of defrauding U.S.
investors and paying off Indian government officials to win a bid to develop the country’s largest solar power plant.He called the accusations baseless.
Trent McCotter, the principal associate deputy attorney general, and U.S.Attorney Joseph Nocella told U.S.
District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in a court filing last month that the office wouldn’t “devote further resources” to the case.The filing didn’t include signatures from the prosecutors assigned to the case, which would be customary.
Garaufis hasn’t yet signed off on the request.According to Warren and Blumenthal, the Justice Department backed off after Adani hired Robert Giuffra, one of President Donald Trump’s personal attorneys.
The senators want to know whether Adani, 63, promised to invest $10 billion in the U.S.if the charges were dropped.
“The DOJ’s decision gives the appearance that Mr.Adani — with the help of one of the president’s personal lawyers — bought his way to criminal immunity, trading the promise of an investment in the United States for immunity from an alleged multi-billion dollar bribery scheme,” the senators said.
The Justice Department and the U.S.attorney’s office in Brooklyn didn’t i...