Washington: US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis on Monday approved the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the charges against Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and associate Vneet Jaain. The charges were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be brought against them again.

Adani had been charged in 2024 over allegations that he was involved in a scheme to pay bribes to Indian officials in connection with renewable energy projects and subsequently mislead US investors. Adani and the Adani Group have consistently denied wrongdoing.

Welcoming the ruling, Adani said his faith in “truth, fairness and the rule of law” had remained unwavering throughout the proceedings.

However, Judge Garaufis strongly criticised the process through which the Justice Department decided to withdraw the case.

The judge questioned the role played by R. Trent McCotter, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, who had engaged with Adani’s lawyers over the dismissal without meaningful involvement from prosecutors and investigators who had worked on the case.

Garaufis described the circumstances surrounding the decision as highly unusual and said the irregularities were concerning. He found that McCotter appeared to have reached the decision without substantial input from the prosecutors who had brought the case or investigators from the FBI and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Justice Department had argued that the case should be abandoned because much of the alleged conduct took place outside the United States, making prosecution difficult, and because pursuing it was inconsistent with the department’s current enforcement priorities.

The move followed Adani’s appointment of a new US legal team led by Robert J. Giuffra Jr., co-chair of Sullivan & Cromwell and a lawyer who has represented US President Donald Trump. Giuffra had approached Justice Department officials to raise concerns over the prosecution.

Garaufis had initially declined to immediately approve the dismissal. On June 26, he ordered the government to provide a fuller explanation for abandoning the prosecution, saying the reasons initially offered were insufficient.

The judge also examined whether Adani’s previously announced pledge to invest $10 billion in the United States and create around 15,000 jobs had influenced the Justice Department’s decision.

Adani announced the proposed investment in November 2024 while congratulating Trump on his election victory. Reports later raised questions about whether the investment had been discussed during talks between Adani’s lawyers and US officials.

Adani’s lawyers maintained that the investment was never offered in return for the dismissal of the case. Garaufis ultimately concluded that the pledge had not influenced the Justice Department’s decision, although he said the public could reach its own conclusions about how such discussions could affect perceptions surrounding equal justice and the rule of law.

The criminal proceedings are separate from other US regulatory matters involving Adani and his companies.

In May, Adani agreed to pay $6 million, while Sagar Adani agreed to pay $12 million, to resolve US Securities and Exchange Commission allegations concerning investor disclosures, without admitting or denying wrongdoing. Separately, flagship company Adani Enterprises agreed to pay $275 million to settle potential civil liability linked to alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran.