Judge says Justice Department’s rationale for dropping Adani charges lacks clarity, orders prosecutors to provide detailed explanation
Published June 26, 2026
A US federal judge has ordered the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to justify its decision to drop criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani.
Friday’s request came a month after the Justice Department announced it would no longer seek prosecution. Adani’s lawyers had asked Brooklyn-based U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis on Wednesday to formally dismiss the case.
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In a written decision posted Wednesday in the court docket, Garaufis said federal prosecutors’ notice to abandon the case did not adequately explain the decision and gave him a July 13 deadline to submit further information.
“The government’s brief, bland and concluding statement does not give the court sufficient basis to reach its conclusion, nor does it provide an opportunity to analyze the government’s request for removal,” Garaufis wrote.
Adani’s lawyer, Robert Giuffre, cited a letter he wrote to Garaufis on Wednesday, arguing that the case should be dismissed because it falls outside the scope of U.S. law and prosecutors cannot substantiate the bribery allegations in India.
The case was dropped by the Justice Department after Adani pledged to invest $10 billion in the United States.
Adani, currently the 17th richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, was re-indicted in 2024 for agreeing to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts to build solar power plants. This was announced amid other allegations that the company misled U.S. investors about its anti-corruption efforts.
Adani has always denied wrongdoing.
The decision to drop the case was made in May after Adani appointed Giuffre, who is also one of US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers, as its lawyer.
James McDonald, a member of Giuffre’s legal team, was also selected by President Trump to be Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor. McDonald was also part of the legal team that secured a favorable outcome for Adani last month in a lawsuit originally brought by the Justice Department under then-President Joe Biden.
Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that Adani met with the US president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., in November while the Justice Department investigation was underway. It did not say what was discussed at the meeting.
