Gautam Adani is Currently Facing Serious Charges of Bribery and Securities Fraud in Two Separate Investigations Brought by US Authorities

The founder of a vast ports-to-power business conglomerate and India's second-wealthiest man, Gautam Adani, is currently facing serious charges of bribery and securities fraud in two separate investigations brought by US authorities.

It's the first time an Indian business leader of this standing faces such charges.

Ratings agency Moody's downgraded the outlook for the Adani firms.

The group's top investor, GQG partners, reportedly lost about 25 per cent of its investment value.

Adani Green Energy plans to use the US corporate bond market to raise $600 million, but the group firm cancelled the issuance only hours before the five-count criminal indictment became public. 

Adani dollar bonds fell by a record, and the group firms' stocks crashed between 10 per cent and 20 per cent.

The market reaction wiped $23 billion from Adani Group stocks in just the first hour of trading.

 That marked the worst decline since a short seller report in 2023 by Hindenburg research, which caused a more than $150 billion decline in the value of Adani group firm stocks.

Hindenburg's research highlighted the Department of Justice's press statement on the charges against the Adani group in a post on X.

What are the allegations?

US prosecutors accused billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani of conspiring to bribe Indian government officials with over $250 million in exchange for solar energy contracts.

From the 54-page indictment, here are a few key points

Gautam Adani met with Indian officials many times in person in the bribery scheme.

Even while in the United States, conspirators met in person and spoke via a messaging app to plan the execution.

They photographed a paper summarising the amounts proposed and used mobile phones to trace the whereabouts and receivers of the promised bribes.

They meticulously documented their bribery activities electronically.

To ascertain the optimal payment mode, they created Excel and PowerPoint presentations.

One presented a synopsis of Gautam Adani's proposals and dubbed the one that included paying the Indian energy company directly a "development fee."

code names, including "V," "snake," and "numero uno minus one," were often used by the defendants to refer to each other.

Many referred to Gautam Adani as "the big man," "numero uno," and "Mr. A."

A PowerPoint slide and email conversations were among the pieces of evidence that some group members destroyed to conceal their involvement in the operation.

While the FBI was handing Sagar Adani, his nephew and co-defendant, the search warrant and grand jury subpoena, Gautam Adani sent himself images of every page.

The Adani group was indicted on many serious offences by the US district court, including that the company lied to the Indian stock exchanges BSE and NSE on March 19, 2024.

As far as SEBI legislation is concerned, this amounts to deceiving Indian investors.