DOJ drops fraud charges against Indian billionaire Adani after meeting with Trump Jr.

DOJ Dropped Charges Against Indian Billionaire After He Met Trump Jr.

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani was facing federal fraud and bribery charges in the U.S. Then he met privately with Donald Trump Jr.

Adani is the second-richest Asian in the world with an estimated net worth of around $88.6 billion, according to a Forbes analysis. In November 2024, Adani and two other executives at the Indian Energy Company were indicted in Brooklyn for allegedly bribing Indian government officials to secure large solar energy projects and lying to U.S. investors about it, according to a Justice Department press release.

Adani and his co-conspirators were charged under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, an anti-bribery statute passed in 1977 that Trump paused for "national security" purposes in February 2025.

Adani's fortune changed after he met with the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., in Ahmedabad, India, last November. What was discussed during the meeting is not known, but the meeting itself was not previously reported until Bloomberg obtained the information Tuesday.

Seven months later, in May 2025, the DOJ dropped its charges against Adani. In a brief filing, prosecutors wrote that the department had "reviewed this case and … decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants."

The billionaire's sudden good luck was met by an excited market, which surged stocks in his companies and temporarily skyrocketed Adani's wealth, pushing him into the top spot as the wealthiest person in Asia.

A spokesperson for Trump Jr. told Bloomberg that the meeting had "zero to do" with the DOJ's decision to drop its case against Adani.

More on the DOJ:

• DOJ Refuses to Officially Say Trump's $1.8 Billion Slush Fund Is Dead

AI Surveillance Towers Installed at Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Federal law enforcement agents were spotted installing AI-powered surveillance towers at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in the latest escalation of President Donald Trump's unusual focus on the site.

In one video shared by TMZ Tuesday, U.S. Marshals escorted an LVT Mobile Security Unit to the edge of the Reflecting Pool.

In another video from a day earlier, Daily Mail reporter John Michael Raasch witnessed a surveillance tower being towed in circles around the landmark by U.S. Parks Police.

These towers do more than just record passersby: They automatically detect and alert so-called threats and use AI-powered audio alerts, strobes, and a powerful spotlight to deter crime. Most likely, they will just catch tourists.

The installation of security equipment is a significant escalation after several people, including a former U.S. Olympian, were arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. Trump has nonsensically claimed that vandals cut a massive slit in the bottom of the pool but has refused to provide any evidence of the crime, which no one else has spotted. Now it appears he does not want anyone to get too close.

Trump has directed more than $16 million in renovations toward the Reflecting Pool, but just days before the country's 250th anniversary, it was once again filled with algae and appeared to be literally falling apart.

Editor's Pick:

• Trump Rages Over Reflecting Pool Fiasco—and Arrests Over It Get Darker