Gautam Adani bribery, fraud case: Here's full statement of US Justice Dept

Billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged yearslong scheme to pay USD 250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contractsUS prosecutors charged Adani 62 his nephew Sagar and other defendants for paying over USD 250 million in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts on terms that could potentially bring in more than USD 2 billion in profitThis they alleged was concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani group raised billions of dollars for the projectUS law allows pursuing foreign corruption allegations if they involve certain links to American investors or marketsHeres the full statement of the US Justice DepartmentA fivecount criminal indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Gautam S Adani Sagar R Adani and Vneet S Jaain executives of an Indian renewableenergy company the Indian Energy Company with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud for their roles in a multibilliondollar scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions based on false and misleading statements The indictment also charges Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal former executives of a renewableenergy company with securities that had traded on the New York Stock Exchange the US Issuer and Cyril Cabanes Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra former employees of a Canadian institutional investor with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with a bribery scheme also perpetrated by Gautam S Adani Sagar R Adani and Vneet S Jaain involving one of the worldrsquos largest solar energy projectsBreon Peace United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Lisa H Miller Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Departmentrsquos Criminal Division and James E Dennehy Assistant Director in Charge Federal Bureau of Investigation New York Field Office FBI announced the chargesldquoAs alleged the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S Adani Sagar R Adani and Vneet S Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from US and international investorsrdquo stated United States Attorney Peace ldquoMy Office is committed to rooting out corruption in the international marketplace and protecting investors from those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial marketsrdquoldquoThis indictment alleges schemes to pay over 250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars and to obstruct justicerdquo stated Deputy Assistant Attorney General Miller ldquoThese offences were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively prosecute corrupt deceptive and obstructive conduct that violates US law no matter where in the world it occursrdquoldquoGautam S Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses Adani and other defendants also defrauded investors by raising capital on the basis of false statements about bribery and corruption while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the governmentrsquos investigationrdquo stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Dennehy ldquoThe FBI maintains its steadfast mission to expose all corrupt agreements especially with international governments and protect investors from related harmrdquoAs alleged in the indictment between approximately 2020 and 2024 the defendants agreed to pay more than 250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the Indian government which were projected to generate more than 2 billion in profits after tax over an approximately 20year period the Bribery Scheme On several occasions Gautam S Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the Bribery Scheme and the defendants held inperson meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its execution The defendants frequently discussed their efforts in furtherance of the Bribery Scheme including through an electronic messaging application The defendants also extensively documented their corrupt efforts for example Sagar R Adani used his cellular phone to track specific details of the bribes offered and promised to government officials Vneet S Jaain used his cellular phone to photograph a document summarizing various bribe amounts the US Issuer owed the Indian Energy Company for its respective portion of the bribes and Rupesh Agarwal prepared and distributed to other defendants multiple analyses using PowerPoint and Excel that summarized various options for paying and concealing bribe payments Bribery AnalysesDuring this same period Gautam S Adani Sagar R Adani and Vneet S Jaain allegedly conspired to misrepresent the Indian Energy Companyrsquos antibribery and corruption practices and conceal the Bribery Scheme from US investors and international financial institutions in order to obtain financing including to fund those solar energy supply contracts procured through bribery As alleged Gautam S Adani Sagar R Adani and Vneet S Jaain caused the Indian Energy Company and certain of its subsidiaries to raise capital on the basis of false and misleading statements in connection with i two US dollardenominated syndicated loans totalling more than 2 billion from lender groups comprised of international financial institutions and USbased investors and ii two Rule 144A bond offerings for more than 1 billion underwritten by international financial institutions which were marketed and sold to investors in the US among other places In addition Gautam S Adani Sagar R Adani and Vneet S Jaain caused the Indian Energy Company to make false statements in their consolidated financial statements and to the market and investors regarding the Bribery SchemeThe indictment further alleges that Cyril Cabanes Saurabh Agarwal Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal conspired to obstruct the grand jury FBI and US Securities and Exchange Commission SEC investigations into the Bribery Scheme Among other things those four defendants agreed to delete electronic materials related to the Bribery Scheme including emails electronic messages and Bribery Analyses caused the US Issuerrsquos Board of Directors to initiate an internal investigation into the Bribery Scheme and then withheld material information from that investigation and falsely denied their participation in the Bribery Scheme to representatives of the FBI DOJ and SEC at meetings in Brooklyn New York For this conduct Cyril Cabanes Saurabh Agarwal Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justiceThe charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty In July 2022 Mr Peace was selected as the Chairperson of the White Collar Fraud subcommittee for the Attorney Generalrsquos Advisory Committee AGAC As the leader of the subcommittee Mr Peace plays a key role in making recommendations to the AGAC to facilitate the prevention investigation and prosecution of various financially motivated nonviolent crimes including bribery and fraudThe investigation was conducted by the FBI New Yorkrsquos Corporate Securities and Commodities Fraud and International Corruption Units The governmentrsquos case is being handled by the Business and Securities Fraud Section of the US Attorneyrsquos Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Criminal Divisionrsquos Fraud Section Assistant US Attorneys Sarah M Evans Matthew R Galeotti and Jessica K Weigel of the Eastern District of New York Shy Jackson of the Criminal Division Fraud Sectionrsquos FCPA Unit and Andrew Tyler of the Fraud Sectionrsquos Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit are prosecuting the case with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Liam McNett Angelina Tyler and Nadiya Singh The Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting FCPA and Foreign Extortion Prevention Act FEPA mattersThe Department of Justicersquos Office of International Affairs and the SECrsquos New York Regional and Boston Regional offices provided valuable assistance during the investigation