Gautam Adani, chairman of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group and one of the richest people in the world, has been charged in New York with an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud scheme, US prosecutors said on Wednesday. Reuters reported.
Authorities accused Adani and two other Adani Green Energy executives, his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, of agreeing between 2020 and 2024 to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain solar energy supply contracts. which are expected to generate $2 billion in profits.
Prosecutors said the renewable energy company also raised more than $3 billion in loans and bonds during this period based on false and misleading statements.
Five other people were charged with related criminal conspiracy charges, including two executives of another renewable energy company and three employees of a Canadian institutional investor.
Adani Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of business hours in India, where the charges were announced early Thursday morning.
The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to court records, a judge issued arrest warrants for Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, and prosecutors plan to turn those warrants over to foreign authorities.
Seven of the eight accused are Indian citizens and lived in India, while the eighth, Cyril Cabanes, has dual French-Australian citizenship and lived in Singapore, prosecutors said. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed related civil charges against Azure Power Global executive Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Cabanes, 50. Prosecutors identified Cabanes as one of the Canadian investor's employees.
Gautam Adani is worth $69.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him the 22nd richest person in the world.
