Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, during the opening ceremony of the Navi Mumbai International Airport in Navi Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025.
Indranil Aditya | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares of Adani Company again Adani Green Energy suffered early losses on Friday after US regulators sought court approval to settle their lawsuit against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani.
Both stocks remain above 52-week highs, according to LSEG data. Shares of Adani Enterprises are up about 24% this year, while Adani Green is up about 41%.
The Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that the two men misled investors as part of a bribery and fraud scheme related to solar contracts in India. Under the agreement, Gautam Adani will pay a fine of $6 million, while Sagar Adani will pay $12 million.
Both men agreed to “enter a final judgment without admitting or denying the allegations made in the civil complaint,” as well as the payment of fines, Indian renewable energy company Adani Green said in a filing to Indian markets.
The company added that it is not a party to these proceedings and “no charges have been brought against it.”
Shares of Adani Enterprises, the group’s flagship company, rose 1.8% and Adani Green, the company at the center of bribery allegations, added 0.6% after recovering from early losses following the SEC filing.
The SEC’s civil complaint against Gautam and Sagar Adani, along with executives from Azure Power Global, centers on allegations of bribery related to solar power contracts awarded by the Indian government.
The US Department of Justice will also drop fraud charges against Adani, according to multiple media reports.
A federal court in New York indicted Gautam Adani and seven others in November 2024 on criminal charges related to the alleged bribery and fraud scheme.
Prosecutors allege the defendants paid Indian government officials more than $250 million, misled investors and banks out of billions of dollars, and obstructed justice, according to court documents.
Although the alleged conduct at the center of the case took place in India, the defendants were charged in federal court in Brooklyn because the fundraising efforts took place in the US.
Adani Group has denied the allegations made by US authorities, calling them “baseless.”
At a meeting at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington last month, Adani’s legal team, led by Robert J. Giuffra Jr., said prosecutors lacked “substantial evidence,” according to a New York Times report Thursday.
The Indian businessman had promised to invest $10 billion in the American economy and create 15,000 jobs, the report said.
Earlier this year, the SEC asked US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn for permission to issue subpoenas to Adani after India’s Ministry of Law and Justice twice refused to serve them last year.
Financial aid?
Reducing legal uncertainty in the US could help reopen Adani Group’s international capital markets and accelerate its renewable energy projects and infrastructure expansion, Deven Choksey Research said in a report.
The group had about 2.78 trillion rupees ($29 billion) in total debt as of September last year, according to company data. International banks and capital markets account for 41% of Adani Group’s total debt.
“High debt remains a structural caveat,” the report said, adding that it “can’t be adequately catered for” by wage growth, which is increasing annually by 20%.
Gautam Adani, chairman of India’s Adani Group, oversees a sprawling business empire that includes ports, energy and infrastructure. The conglomerate has 11 publicly traded companies, and the Adani family has a majority stake in most of them.
The group has also faced scrutiny since a 2023 report by short seller Hindenburg Research, which accused it of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. The Adani Group has repeatedly denied the allegations.
