On Wednesday, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani submitted a sworn affidavit affirming that he was not aware of any quid pro quo offer with the US Department of Justice that may have led to the recent dismissal of the indictment against him and his associates on bribery and fraud charges.
Adani’s statement comes amid a tussle between a US District Court and the Justice Department regarding the reasons behind the latter’s refusal to pursue legal action against the Adani group.
In his affidavit, Adani acknowledged that he had publicly posted on X in November 2024 about the Adani Group’s plans to invest $10 billion and create 15,000 jobs in the United States.
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“When I made this post, the Indictment and SEC Complaint had not yet been unsealed and made public, and I was unaware of their existence,” he stated.
Adani also acknowledged that his legal counsel had suggested that his publicly stated intent to invest $10 billion in the US might be part of a resolution of legal charges against him. However, Adani added that the Department of Justice had made clear that promises of investment in the US would not influence their decision to pursue legal charges. This was consistent with statements made by principal associate deputy attorney general Trent McCotter.
In 2024, the US Justice department filed an indictment against Adani alleging that the firm had been involved in bribing Indian officials in order to obtain solar power contracts and had subsequently engaged in securities fraud by misleading investors about the firm’s anti-corruption and anti-bribery efforts. However, the US Department of Justice announced in June that it would decline to pursue further legal action against Gautam Adani and his associates. The decision sparked significant controversy with media reports suggesting that the Adani group’s offer to invest in the US played a key role in the Justice Department’s decision.
On June 26, District Judge Garaufis directed the Justice Department to provide the court reasons for dismissing the indictment against the defendants after terming the department’s motion “terse, bland and conclusory.” Although the Justice Department defended its decision to dismiss charges – citing little evidence for corruption found by Indian authorities in the matter and the largely foreign jurisdiction of the case – Garaufis directed Gautam Adani to submit a sworn affidavit affirming that he was not aware of any quid pro quo in the decision to dismiss charges.
Adani’s lawyer Robert Giuffra – who has represented US President Donald Trump in the past – also submitted a declaration. In it, Giruffra cites a mail he received in May 2026 from Justice Department officials explicitly rejecting
“[T]he portion of the joint defense offer made by Gautam Adani, represented by Sullivan & Cromwell, Sagar R. Adani, represented by Nixon Peabody LLP and Hecker Fink LLP, and Vneet S. Jaain, represented by Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, to resolve the criminal charges against them by, in part, a general proposal to invest $10 billion in the United States is categorically rejected by this Office,” reads an excerpt of the email sent to Giuffra by Justice Department officials, cited in the former’s declaration.
