Adani will seek to dismiss fraud case in US

NEW DELHI:

Gautam Adani, India's second richest person, will ask a US judge to dismiss the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) civil fraud case stemming from an alleged bribery scheme, his lawyers said on Tuesday.

Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani were charged by the SEC in November 2024 with orchestrating a scheme to pay or promise to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials to benefit Adani Green Energy, where both men are executives and directors.

The securities fraud case is tied to Adani Green's alleged failure to disclose the scheme in documents for a $750 million bond offering in 2021. In a filing in the Brooklyn, New York federal court, the Adanis' lawyers said their clients disputed that there was any credible evidence supporting the alleged bribery scheme.

The lawyers said the Adanis' lack of involvement in the offering, and the absence of any intent to defraud or negligence, supported a dismissal.

They also called the SEC claims "impermissibly extraterritorial," reflecting how the Adanis and all alleged misconduct were in India.