Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and group executive Sagar Adani have made their first formal appearance in a New York federal court, ending 14 months of silence following US fraud allegations. This legal intervention comes as a reaction to American regulators attempting to bypass the Indian government to deliver court papers. According to a report by the Hindustan Times on Sunday, the billionaire’s legal team is now seeking to negotiate how these legal documents are handled.

A shift in legal strategy

Lawyers from Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, representing the Adanis, sent a letter to Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis on 23 January. The report indicates that they are currently in talks with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reach an agreement on the delivery of summonses. They have asked the court to delay any formal rulings while these discussions continue. This development followed a request by the SEC to serve the documents via email or through the Adanis’ American lawyers, after failing to get cooperation from authorities in New Delhi.

Friction between regulators and New Delhi

The SEC originally tried to deliver the summonses through the Hague Convention, an international agreement for legal documents, starting in February 2025. However, India’s Ministry of Law and Justice refused to process them twice. In May 2025, the ministry claimed the papers lacked proper ink signatures and official seals. By December, officials Krishna Mohan Arya and Niranjan Prasad issued a new rejection, citing internal SEC procedures to argue the summonses did not meet specific criteria. The SEC has dismissed these excuses as having no legal basis and as a challenge to its regulatory power.

Financial stakes and fraud allegations

The civil charges, first filed in November 2024, claim the Adanis participated in securities fraud involving a $750 million bond offering. Regulators allege that more than $175 million was raised from investors in the US under false pretences. While the Adani Group has dismissed these claims as groundless, the legal tension has already impacted the markets. Following news of the SEC’s latest court motion, shares in Adani Group companies dropped sharply, with some falling by more than 14%. Although the ministry and the Adanis' lawyers have declined to comment further, the SEC maintains that no other legal avenues remain for serving the documents in India.