Was Donald Trump’s personal lawyer part of Gautam Adani’s defence in the fraud case?

A fleet of lawyers for Gautam Adani pressed the US Justice Department to drop a 2024 fraud case against the billionaire last year. That didn’t yield any positive result. But by spring 2025, senior officials of the DOJ had given their nod. What changed in the meantime? According to a report, a key player is said to have joined Adani’s team to turn the tide.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, that key player was Boris Epshteyn, Donald Trump’s personal attorney. 

A spokesperson for Adani Group said they never hired Epshteyn but retained Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. "We have no relationship with Boris Epshteyn, have not retained him in any capacity, and have made no payments to him, directly or indirectly," the statement said, as mentioned in the report.

Epshteyn too said he was never hired by nor did he maintain any relationship with Adani or his company, and called the claims “false, malicious, and defamatory”. Sullivan & Cromwell, a white-shoe firm that represents Trump and was hired by Adani last summer, also refuted hiring Epshteyn in their representation of Adani. 

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WHAT DOES THE REPORT SAY?

As per the WSJ report, the Adani family inquired about Epshteyn and wanted to know if he truly was an insider in the Trump administration. The family also told people last summer that Epshteyn was helping them, the report added.

Epshteyn didn’t, however, attend any meeting with prosecutors, nor did his name appear on legal papers, since that work was handled by Sullivan & Cromwell. His presence was discussed inside the Justice Department, the report added. After two meetings with Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers, DOJ officials went to a judge asking them to dismiss the charges against Adani and the other defendants. 

WHO IS BORIS EPSHTEYN? 

Epshteyn, who serves as the president’s adviser and legal coordinator, is touted to be someone who can make or break a career. He has reportedly helped many DOJ officials get their jobs, including Trent McCotter, who is one of the department’s most senior officials, as per the report.

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McCotter has the final say over whether the department should drop the charges on Adani, the report said. A DOJ spokesperson said that Epshteyn had no role in McCotter’s hiring. 

Epshteyn is known to have appeared at Trump’s private clubs, and is known to visit the White House frequently. The report added that Epshteyn was also instrumental in the dismissal of former Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this year. 

According to the report, Epshteyn is not only part of his legal team but also operates as a connector for clients and businesses with the Trump administration.

Epshteyn had worked as a staffer in Trump’s 2016 campaign, and has worked for the president for about a decade.

HELPING HAND FOR ADANI

Gautam Adani and seven other executives were charged over a scheme to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian state officials on contracts linked to expanding solar-power capacity in the country. Prosecutors said Adani personally met an Indian official several times to advance the alleged scheme.

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The Adanis initially retained lawyers from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and Kirkland & Ellis. Early last year, defence lawyers argued to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn that the charges should be dropped, saying the case would not have been brought under this administration, that the indictment threatened India-US relations and jeopardised Adani's investment in the US, and that it went beyond the reach of US laws.

The prosecution team and senior Justice Department officials in Washington were not persuaded. Sullivan & Cromwell took over the matter last July. By then, the Adani Group was also facing a Treasury Department investigation into whether one of its companies had violated US sanctions on Iran.