Billionaire Gautam Adani of India found guilty of fraud

21/11/2024 6:15

        Gautam Adani, the chair of
        Indian conglomerate Adani Group and one of the world's richest
        people, has been indicted in New York over an alleged
        multibillion-dollar fraud scheme, U.S. prosecutors said on
        Wednesday.
        
        Authorities charged Adani and two other executives at Adani
        Green Energy, his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, with
        agreeing between 2020 and 2024 to pay more than $250 million in
        bribes to Indian government officials to obtain solar energy
        supply contracts expected to yield $2 billion in profits.
        
        Prosecutors said the renewable energy company also raised
        more than $3 billion in loans and bonds during this period on
        the basis of false and misleading statements.
        
        Five other people were hit with related criminal conspiracy
        charges, including two executives of another renewable energy
        company, and three employees of a Canadian institutional
        investor.
        
        Adani Group did not immediately respond to requests for
        comment outside business hours in India, where the charges were
        announced early Thursday morning.
        
        India's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to
        a request for comment.
        
        According to court records, a judge has issued arrest
        warrants for Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, and prosecutors plan
        to hand those warrants to foreign law enforcement.
        
        Seven of the eight defendants are Indian citizens and lived
        in India, while the eighth, Cyril Cabanes, is a dual
        French-Australian citizen who lived in Singapore, prosecutors
        said.
        
        The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed related
        civil charges against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Cabanes, 50,
        an executive at Azure Power Global. Prosecutors identified
        Cabanes as one of the Canadian investor's employees.
        
        Gautam Adani is worth $69.8 billion, according to Forbes
        magazine, making him the world's 22nd richest person.