By Jana Winter
WASHINGTON, July 4 (Reuters) - The Justice Department said on Saturday it wants to drop charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani because the case is primarily foreign, hard to prove and inconsistent with the agency's current priorities.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis last month ordered prosecutors to justify their decision to drop their case against Adani, whom Biden-era prosecutors charged with securities fraud and wire fraud related to an alleged bribery scheme. The Justice Department on Saturday responded with a 10-page filing outlining why it sought to dismiss all charges with prejudice against Adani and other defendants.
Prosecutors under the administration of President Joe Biden started a baseless case against Adani with little chance of success, the new filing says.
"The indictment was unsealed in the final days of the prior Administration, apparently as a 'name and shame' designed to levy accusations without any realistic prospect of a trial ever occurring," the court filing says.
U.S. government attorneys should not prosecute a "foreign case" of alleged conduct that involves no criminal organizations and no U.S. companies, and does not affect national security, the Justice Department said.
"The alleged 'payments' in this case were made by Indian nationals, working for Indian companies, to the Indian government, with no U.S. interests implicated in any way," the filing says.
Adani was charged in 2024 with agreeing to bribe Indian government officials so a subsidiary of his Adani Group could win approval to develop a solar energy plant, then misleading U.S. investors by providing reassuring information about his company's anti-corruption practices.
Adani Group, Adani's company, has consistently denied wrongdoing. Adani himself has not appeared in U.S. court to respond to the charges.
The decision to drop U.S. charges marked the latest instance in which the Justice Department has sought to end a high-profile white-collar criminal prosecution during President Donald Trump's second term.
Legal experts say U.S. judges have little discretion to compel prosecutors to continue with criminal cases they no longer wish to pursue, but the charges remain officially pending until Garaufis orders them dismissed.
(Reporting by Jana Winter; Editing by Sergio Non and Franklin Paul)
