US judge orders DOJ to justify dropping criminal case against Gautam Adani

Overview

A U.S. judge has ordered the Justice Department to justify its decision to drop criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, declining to rule immediately on Adani's lawyers' request to dismiss the case.

By Luc Cohen Fri, June 26, 2026 at 2:09 PM PDT 3 min read

Judge's Ruling

Brooklyn-based U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled on Friday that federal prosecutors' May 18 announcement—stating they would no longer pursue the case charging Adani with securities fraud and wire fraud stemming from an alleged bribery scheme—did not sufficiently explain their decision.

"The Government's terse, bland and conclusory statement affords the court neither a sufficient basis to reach any conclusion, nor the opportunity to conduct any analysis of the Government's request for dismissal," Garaufis wrote.

He gave the Justice Department until July 13 to submit more information.

Background of the Case

The Adani case was originally brought in 2024 at the end of Democratic President Joe Biden's term. The decision to drop the charges marks the latest instance in which the Justice Department has sought to end a high-profile white-collar criminal prosecution during Republican President Donald Trump's second term in the White House.

Key Points:

• Legal experts say U.S. judges have little discretion to compel prosecutors to continue with criminal cases they no longer wish to pursue.
• The charges remain officially pending until Garaufis orders them dismissed.
• A spokesperson for the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office, which brought the charges, declined to comment.
• Adani Group has consistently denied wrongdoing.
• Adani himself has not appeared in U.S. court to respond to the charges.

Defense Argument

Robert Giuffra, a lawyer for Adani, referred to a letter he wrote to Garaufis on Wednesday arguing that the case should be dismissed because:

• It was beyond the reach of U.S. law
• Prosecutors would be unable to prove the alleged bribery in India

Defense Cites 'Legal and Factual Weaknesses'

In his June 24 letter, Giuffra said lawyers for Adani and his co-defendants had several meetings with Justice Department officials and submitted nearly 500 pages of materials to convince them the case was flawed.

"The DOJ's decision reflects its careful consideration of the indictment's legal and factual weaknesses," Giuffra wrote.

Charges and Related Settlements

Adani was charged in 2024 with agreeing to bribe Indian government officials so a subsidiary of his Adani Group could win approval to develop a solar energy plant, then misleading U.S. investors by providing reassuring information about his company's anti-corruption practices.

Related civil and regulatory actions:

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also brought civil charges.
• The SEC has reached a settlement in which Adani would pay $6 million and his nephew, Sagar Adani, would pay $12 million.
• Adani Enterprises Limited has separately agreed to pay $275 million to the U.S. Treasury Department to settle alleged violations of Iran sanctions.

Prosecutorial Discretion Cited

In their brief letter to Garaufis last month, senior officials said the Justice Department "decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants."

The rank-and-file prosecutors who brought the case did not sign the letter.

Justice Department officials in Washington last year dropped corruption charges brought under Biden against then-New York Mayor Eric Adams over the objections of the career prosecutors who brought the case, several of whom resigned.

Reporting by Luc Cohen, Reuters