'Adani case should never have been brought': US Justice Department urges judge to permanently drop charges

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has forcefully defended its decision to permanently abandon the criminal case against Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and seven others.

The department argued before a federal judge that the prosecution was legally flawed, diplomatically counterproductive, and inconsistent with the Trump administration's enforcement priorities.

In a 10-page filing, the department said the indictment "should have been dropped a year ago -- or never brought in the first place," urging US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis to dismiss the case with prejudice.

The filing came after Garaufis questioned the department's earlier request to dismiss the indictment, describing its previous motion as "terse, bland, and conclusory" and asking prosecutors to explain their reasoning.

DOJ Says Court Has Limited Role

The Justice Department argued that courts have only a limited role in reviewing prosecutorial decisions to abandon criminal cases and warned that forcing prosecutors to justify such decisions publicly would undermine the executive branch's constitutional authority.

"Judicial inquisitions into the bases for dismissal will expose privileged internal debates," Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter wrote.

He said such scrutiny could discourage future prosecutors from seeking dismissal even where criminal charges were no longer considered to be in the interests of justice, ultimately harming defendants.

Waiving privilege specifically for this case, McCotter said he personally reviewed hundreds of pages of submissions, held months of meetings with defence lawyers and conducted an independent legal assessment before recommending dismissal.

"The decision to seek dismissal was not a close call," he wrote.

'This Is A Foreign Case'

The department cited six principal reasons for dropping all charges.

It argued that the alleged conduct was overwhelmingly centred in India, Indian authorities had already investigated the allegations and found no actionable misconduct, investors had suffered no financial losses, key witnesses and evidence were located overseas, the defendants were unlikely to appear before a US court, and the prosecution faced significant evidentiary hurdles.

"This is a foreign case," McCotter wrote.

The indictment, he said, concerned "several Indians (with maybe a European or two) allegedly trying to bridge other Indians by paying the Indian government via complex Indian rebate programs to get Indian contracts to provide Indian electricity to Indians in India."

He also questioned whether the United States should be pursuing such prosecutions.

"The United States pretending to be the world police can cause diplomatic strife and also wastes resources better spent on domestic concerns. India can better manage its internal systems than can prosecutors in Brooklyn and Washington," McCotter wrote.

DOJ Questions Securities Fraud Charges

The filing also challenged the legal basis of the criminal securities fraud charges against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Cyril Cabanes.

According to the department, the alleged misconduct occurred almost entirely outside the United States and did not satisfy the jurisdictional requirements necessary to prosecute criminal securities fraud in US courts.

The DOJ further argued that investors had not suffered losses because the notes in question had either been fully repaid or continued to be serviced.

It also questioned whether statements cited in the indictment constituted criminal fraud, describing them as corporate "platitudes" and "puffery" that sophisticated institutional investors were unlikely to rely upon.

"The securities charges should never have been brought," McCotter wrote, adding that the allegations, at most, warranted civil rather than criminal proceedings.

FCPA Charges No Longer Fit DOJ Priorities

The department also said the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) charges no longer aligned with the Justice Department's enforcement priorities under Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's June 2025 memorandum.

The memo directs prosecutors to prioritise cases involving US national security, transnational criminal organisations, serious misconduct or harm to American companies.

"The alleged conduct did not involve criminal organizations, did not have any effect on US companies, did not in any way implicate national security, was not egregious, and has been the subject of investigations in India," the filing said.

"Under the Blanche Memorandum, the FCPA charges should have been dismissed a year ago."

DOJ Rejects Reports Of Investment Deal

McCotter also rejected media reports suggesting the department agreed to drop the prosecution in exchange for investment commitments by the Adani Group.

"I would have sought dismissal of the securities charges regardless of any mentions of investments," he wrote.

"The mention of potential investments could not have played any role."

When And Why The Case Began

The case dates back to 2024, when the DOJ under the Biden administration indicted Gautam Adani and others, alleging they were involved in a scheme to pay about USD 250 million in bribes to Indian government officials and mislead investors to raise billions of dollars in funding. The indictment alleged that Adani Green Energy Ltd raised at least USD 175 million from US investors during the period in question.

The department has now urged the court to dismiss the indictment without further delay.

"In short, there was absolutely nothing improper with the Department's as-filed dismissal motion," McCotter wrote. "The defendants have been held in limbo on charges that should have been dropped a year ago -- or never brought in the first place."

(With inputs from PTI)