US SEC fraud case against Adani to proceed after procedural issue resolved

In a Friday filing in a Brooklyn federal court, the SEC and US lawyers for Gautam and Sagar Adani said they agreed to accept legal papers, removing the need for a judge's ruling on service

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has arranged to serve Gautam Adani ‍with a civil fraud ​lawsuit, allowing the regulator's case against India's second-richest person to proceed.

In a Friday filing in the Brooklyn, New York federal court, the SEC and US-based lawyers for Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani said the lawyers agreed to accept the SEC's legal ​papers, eliminating the need for US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis to rule on how the defendants should be served.

If the judge approves the resolution, the Adanis will have 90 days to respond to the SEC's complaint, which could include requests for a dismissal.

 

Robert Giuffra, a lawyer for Gautam Adani, declined to comment. Sean Hecker, a lawyer for Sagar Adani, also declined to comment.

The SEC charged the Adanis in November 2024 with violating US securities law by orchestrating a scheme to pay or promise to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government ‌officials to benefit Adani Green Energy, ​where both are executives and directors.

Both defendants are in India, and the SEC had reported difficulty in serving them with legal papers.

US prosecutors filed a related criminal case in November 2024 ‍against the Adanis and several other defendants. There have been no public developments in that case for more than ‍a ‌year. The SEC's ​case had been stalled for most ‍of that time.

Gautam Adani, 63, founded and chairs the conglomerate Adani Group. ‍He ‍is worth ‌about $59 billion according to Forbes magazine.