Who is Gautam Adani? Indian billionaire hit with fraud charges in U.S.
Adani, an Indian business magnate and one of the richest men in Asia, faces new allegations of fraud to secure solar energy supply contracts.
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| Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is facing business and legal challenges, including charges announced on Wednesday by U.S. prosecutors related to an alleged bribery scheme. (Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg) |
By Bryan Pietsch, Niha Masih and Rachel Pannett
November 21, 2024 The WP
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is one of Asia’s richest men, revered in India and beyond for his meteoric rise in business and proximity to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His companies — including the massive conglomerate Adani Group — have their tentacles in myriad parts of India’s society and economy, from port infrastructure and energy to media.
But in recent years, he has faced a number of setbacks, the most recent being charges announced on Wednesday by U.S. prosecutors related to an alleged bribery scheme.
Here’s what to know about Adani, his businesses and his legal challenges.
Who is Gautam Adani?
While he’s now a billionaire and the second-richest man in India, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, he came from humble beginnings. Adani, 62, was born in the western state of Gujarat to a textile merchant. A college dropout, he traded plastics, traveling by scooter, early in his career.
It was a failed deal that led to the start of his empire. In 1991, Adani was working as a middleman to develop a salt mine in Gujarat for Minnesota-based food giant Cargill.
When the deal fell through, Adani turned the land in the coastal city of Mundra into a port. The deep water port became India’s most efficient port, handling coal and commodities.
While coal still accounts for the bulk of Adani Group’s revenue, it has expanded into a wide array of industries in India. Its businesses include logistics, sewage treatment, produce, data centers, packaged foods and real estate.
Its reach extends beyond India: An Adani-led group bought the Haifa port in Israel last year for $1.15 billion, Reuters reported. In Australia, an Adani subsidiary owns and operates a coal port. Another subsidiary runs a coal mine in the country. And another runs a solar farm. The group also has projects in Sri Lanka and Tanzania.
Last week, Adani congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his victory and promised to invest $10 billion in energy and infrastructure projects in the United States.
What is the United States charging him for?
Adani’s solar endeavors are at the center of the U.S. fraud allegations announced on Wednesday.
Adani and his co-defendants, including his nephew and solar power executives, are accused of hatching a plan to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain “lucrative solar energy supply contracts.”
The scheme, the Justice Department said, was set to generate more than $2 billion in posttax profits over two decades.
Adani, according to prosecutors, “personally met” with an Indian government official as part of the scheme.
On top of the bribery allegations, Adani and his associates are accused of misleading U.S. and international investors about their anti-bribery practices as they sought funding for the solar contracts.
The indictment alleges that the accused documented their efforts. Prosecutors claim that Sagar Adani, his nephew, tracked the details of the offered bribes on his cellphone; one executive took a photograph on his phone of a document listing some alleged bribe amounts; while another prepared a PowerPoint analysis summarizing possible options for payments and the concealment of bribes.
Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Adani and his nephew for allegedly violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC complaint names Adani Green Energy — India’s largest renewable energy company — at the center of the scandal.
In a statement Thursday, an Adani Group spokesperson denied the allegations calling them “baseless” and said the company will seek all possible legal remedies.
“The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty,” the spokesperson said.
What other allegations has Adani faced?
In 2023, a U.S. investment firm that probes companies for signs of fraudulent activity and then shorts their stocks alleged that Adani had artificially inflated the share prices of his companies by using shell companies linked to his family members.
The allegations by Hindenburg Research led to a massive sell-off in Adani subsidiaries, forcing Indian markets to halt the trading of some Adani businesses. The company denied the allegations in a 413-page response, but Adani’s wealth and reputation took a substantial hit and the billionaire has spent much of the past year trying to move past the damaging claims.
Some experts said the report was complicated by the fact that Hindenburg is an “activist short seller” with an incentive to see the company’s share price fall.
Adani is a polarizing figure in India. His detractors argue that his success owes to his close ties to Modi, while admirers say he has helped build critical infrastructure that juiced the nation’s growth.
In its report, Hindenburg Research highlighted Adani’s apparent ability to evade regulatory scrutiny and silence any criticism in local media.
The Post has previously reported on his political sway in India, with Modi’s government repeatedly taking steps to aid Adani’s fossil fuel business — despite the ambitious goals announced by Indian leaders to transition toward renewable energy. On at least three occasions, the Indian government revised laws to help his coal businesses, saving him at least $1 billion.
Adani’s influence is global. In Australia, its local arm has lobbied lawmakers for tougher penalties to stop environmental activists disrupting its giant Carmichael coal mine in central Queensland state. A 2019 state law banned the use of lock-on devices used by protesters to strap themselves to train tracks to prevent the coal from being hauled to port.
An investigation by the Australian Financial Review newspaper last year alleged inconsistencies in the accounts of Adani’s Australian venture. Adani said its businesses complied with local regulations and were audited by Australian accounting firms.⍐
Gerry Shih contributed to this report.
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