India's 2nd-wealthiest person charged by U.S. in $250 million bribery scheme
U.S. prosecutors have charged Gautam Adani, India’s second-richest person, with fraud over accusations that he and several alleged co-conspirators sought to pay $250 million in bribes to Indian officials.
U.S. prosecutors have charged Gautam Adani, India’s second-richest person, with fraud over accusations that he and several alleged co-conspirators sought to pay $250 million in bribes to Indian officials.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, New York, accused the executives, most of them Indian, on Wednesday of obtaining funds from investors in the U.S. and other international lenders “on the basis of false and misleading statements” while, authorities say, they bribed Indian officials as they sought billions in solar power contracts.
“The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a release accompanying the indictment. The defendants then “lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” Peace said.
The scheme, according to prosecutors, occurred from 2020 to this year.
Sagar Adani, Adani’s nephew, is also named as a defendant. The Securities and Exchange Commission separately announced charges of civil fraud Wednesday.
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