DOJ to reportedly drop fraud case against billionaire who hired former Trump lawyer

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In late 2024, when federal prosecutors secured an indictment against Gautam Adani, it wasn’t just another case. Adani, with a net worth of $104 billion, is India’s richest man with unparalleled influence in his home country, making the criminal indictment a matter of geopolitical significance.

In the United States, the Justice Department nevertheless concluded that he had allegedly overseen a bribery scheme, which he and his team lied about while trying to raise money from American investors.

According to new reporting from The New York Times, however, Donald Trump’s DOJ is prepared to abandon the case:

Now, according to several people with knowledge of the case, the Justice Department is planning to drop the charges altogether.

The reversal came after the Indian billionaire, Gautam Adani, hired a new legal team led by Robert J. Giuffra Jr., one of President Trump’s personal lawyers and the co-chairman of the prominent firm Sullivan & Cromwell.

The Times’ article, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, added that the billionaire’s defense lawyer met directly with Justice Department officials last month, and he went through a series of slides intended to show what he characterized as weaknesses in the case.

One of the slides, however, stood out: “If prosecutors dropped the charges, Mr. Adani would be willing to invest $10 billion in the American economy and create 15,000 jobs, echoing a pledge he had made in the wake of Mr. Trump’s election.”