Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani agreed to pay a combined $18 million in penalties to settle a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the broadest resolution yet of cases that have shadowed Asia's richest man since 2024. The proposed deal, subject to court approval and carrying no admission or denial of the allegations, bars the Adanis from future violations of US anti-fraud laws, and Adani Group shares rose Friday on the news, the BBC reported.
The 2024 lawsuit had accused the Adanis of paying bribes to Indian officials for high-profile renewable-energy projects and misleading US investors about anti-bribery practices while raising roughly $750 million, including about $175 million from American investors, through a bond offering. The Adani Group has called the allegations "baseless," and the conglomerate denied wrongdoing throughout, the BBC reported. Gautam Adani, 63, is worth about $82 billion, the SEC settlement coverage said, citing Forbes.
Separately, the Justice Department is moving to drop its criminal fraud charges, a reversal that came after Adani hired a new legal team led by Robert J. Giuffra Jr., one of 
Donald Trump's personal legal advisers, the Guardian reported. Giuffra met last month with Justice Department officials and pointed to a pledge that Adani would invest $10 billion in the US and create 15,000 jobs, a commitment first made to Trump shortly after the 2024 election, sources told the New York Times in reporting carried by the BBC. The charges abandoned by prosecutors had originally been brought under 
Joe Biden's administration, Channel News Asia reported, and the dismissal was described as reflecting a broader move away from prosecuting foreign bribery cases.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump, Joe Biden. — JudgeMarket.
