The US Department of Justice is reportedly preparing to drop charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani shortly after he hired one of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers to represent him.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that the DOJ – now headed by former Trump attorney Todd Blanche – is working on ending its case against Adani, who was indicted in November 2024 along with two colleagues for alleged conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud, among other charges.
The Times noted that the DOJ’s reversal came after Adani hired a legal team headed by attorney Robert Giuffra Jr., who is currently leading efforts to overturn Trump’s 34 felony convictions for falsifying business records.
According to the Times, Giuffra’s work for Adani “culminated in a previously unreported meeting last month at the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington” that included an offer that “if prosecutors dropped the charges, Mr. Adani would be willing to invest $10 billion in the American economy and create 15,000 jobs.”
Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the DOJ could announce it’s dropping charges against Adani “as soon as this week,” and added that the Securities and Exchange Commission “is also moving to settle a parallel civil fraud case it brought against Adani and others in November 2024.”
The DOJ alleged that Adani, whom Forbes estimates is worth at least $82 billion, “orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars,” and then subsequently lied about the scheme to secure funding from US investors.
Given Trump’s past pardons of white-collar criminals – including a cryptocurrency magnate who helped boost the value of the president’s personal meme coin – some observers were quick to label the DOJ’s move to drop charges against Adani an act of corruption.
University of Arkansas economist Jeremy Horpedahl commented that the Adani case shows that “the way to avoid fraud charges under the Trump administration is to hire Trump’s personal lawyer and engage in bribery.”
Manish Sharma, leader of the Indian Youth Congress, suggested in an X (Twitter) post that did not cite detailed evidence, that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also involved in the effort to get charges dropped for Adani, a longtime political ally.
“Perfect timing, just months after Modi signed that one-sided trade deal with Trump,” wrote Sharma. “Quid pro quo delivered: Compromised PM sells out Indian interests, Trump admin returns the favor to Modi’s favorite billionaire.”
Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, criticized the New York Times for describing the quid pro quo proposed by Giuffra on behalf of his client as an “unusual offer.”
“’UNUSUAL OFFER??’ No, headline writers,” wrote Mystal, who then suggested a more accurate headline: “Charges Dropped Against Indian Billionaire Accused of Bribery, After Offering Trump A Bribe.”
-Common Dreams
The US Department of Justice is reportedly preparing to drop charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani shortly after he hired one of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers to represent him.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that the DOJ – now headed by former Trump attorney Todd Blanche – is working on ending its case against Adani, who was indicted in November 2024 along with two colleagues for alleged conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud, among other charges.
The Times noted that the DOJ’s reversal came after Adani hired a legal team headed by attorney Robert Giuffra Jr., who is currently leading efforts to overturn Trump’s 34 felony convictions for falsifying business records.
According to the Times, Giuffra’s work for Adani “culminated in a previously unreported meeting last month at the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington” that included an offer that “if prosecutors dropped the charges, Mr. Adani would be willing to invest $10 billion in the American economy and create 15,000 jobs.”
Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the DOJ could announce it’s dropping charges against Adani “as soon as this week,” and added that the Securities and Exchange Commission “is also moving to settle a parallel civil fraud case it brought against Adani and others in November 2024.”
The DOJ alleged that Adani, whom Forbes estimates is worth at least $82 billion, “orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars,” and then subsequently lied about the scheme to secure funding from US investors.
Given Trump’s past pardons of white-collar criminals – including a cryptocurrency magnate who helped boost the value of the president’s personal meme coin – some observers were quick to label the DOJ’s move to drop charges against Adani an act of corruption.
University of Arkansas economist Jeremy Horpedahl commented that the Adani case shows that “the way to avoid fraud charges under the Trump administration is to hire Trump’s personal lawyer and engage in bribery.”
Manish Sharma, leader of the Indian Youth Congress, suggested in an X (Twitter) post that did not cite detailed evidence, that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also involved in the effort to get charges dropped for Adani, a longtime political ally.
“Perfect timing, just months after Modi signed that one-sided trade deal with Trump,” wrote Sharma. “Quid pro quo delivered: Compromised PM sells out Indian interests, Trump admin returns the favor to Modi’s favorite billionaire.”
Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, criticized the New York Times for describing the quid pro quo proposed by Giuffra on behalf of his client as an “unusual offer.”
“’UNUSUAL OFFER??’ No, headline writers,” wrote Mystal, who then suggested a more accurate headline: “Charges Dropped Against Indian Billionaire Accused of Bribery, After Offering Trump A Bribe.”
-Common Dreams
