U.S. prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to dismiss criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, marking a significant shift in a New York case that had accused him of misleading investors in a large-scale solar project in India.

Adani, among the world’s richest individuals, had been charged in 2024 with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud over allegations tied to Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another firm, relating to a contract to supply 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government.

The Adani Group denied the allegations at the time, describing them as baseless.

“The Department of Justice has reviewed this case and has decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

Judge Nicholas Garaufis must still approve the request. Prosecutors said lawyers for Adani and co-defendants consented to the move. Adani’s lawyer Robert Giuffra declined to comment.

Adani was never arrested or brought to the United States for trial. Some observers in India had expected the case could be dropped after President Donald Trump last year suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits overseas business bribery.

Case details and regulatory fallout

The charges stemmed from allegations that Adani and others engaged in both sides of a solar energy deal, presenting investors with optimistic projections while allegedly offering USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure contracts.

The project was linked to a plan to sell solar power sufficient to supply millions of homes and businesses.

After the case was announced, several international repercussions followed. Kenya’s president cancelled multimillion-dollar airport expansion and energy agreements with Adani. Adani Green Energy also withdrew wind power projects from Sri Lanka after pricing renegotiations were sought, while a French oil major paused new investments.

Regulatory settlements and legal positions

The move to drop criminal charges follows the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s settlement of a related civil lawsuit involving Adani. Earlier, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also settled allegations involving sanctions violations related to LPG imports from Iran, with the Adani Group agreeing to pay USD 275 million and extending cooperation.

In court filings disclosed earlier, Adani’s legal team challenged the SEC case as an “impermissibly extraterritorial application” of US securities law, arguing the matter involved “Indian Defendants, an Indian issuer”, securities not traded on US exchanges, and conduct occurring “exclusively in India”.

They said the SEC “lacked necessary jurisdiction”, failed to establish actionable misstatements, and could not connect the defendants to the bond offering. The filings also said there were “no investor losses”, all bond obligations were honoured, and Gautam Adani “did not authorise the issuance of the bonds”.

Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain were charged under securities and wire fraud statutes (counts 2, 3 and 4), while they were not named in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bribery charge or obstruction-related counts brought against other defendants.

The Adani Group has consistently rejected all allegations, calling them unfounded and defending its governance practices.

Adani’s rise from a coal trading business in the 1990s into a diversified conglomerate has included major investments in renewable energy, defence and agriculture. The group built one of the world’s largest solar portfolios and has aimed to become India’s biggest renewable energy player by 2030. He has also maintained close ties with India’s government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The group has faced sustained criticism over its expansion, including allegations from U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud”. The Adani Group rejected those claims as “a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations”.

Analysts have previously pointed to the group’s alignment with government policy as a factor in its growth, while critics have described it as crony capitalism—allegations the group has denied.