When the government asks to drop a massive fraud case, the judge usually just signs the paper. This time, the judge signed it, but then went on the record to say the whole process smelled terrible.
In the American justice system, billionaires usually have to fight tooth and nail to make criminal charges go away. But for Gautam Adani, one of India’s wealthiest men, the charges just vanished. The judge who made it happen, however, made sure everyone knew he did not like it.
US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis officially dismissed the bribery and fraud case against Adani on Monday. The charges, accusing Adani of paying off Indian officials for renewable energy projects, are gone for good. But in a 47-page order, the judge tore into the Justice Department for how they handled the exit.
He called the process “highly unusual.”
According to the ruling, a senior DOJ official named R Trent McCotter worked directly with Adani’s lawyers to kill the case. He did this without talking to the FBI agents or the actual prosecutors who built the file. The judge said McCotter just substituted his own judgment for the people doing the actual work.
“The irregularities in the decision to dismiss the indictment are concerning,” Garaufis wrote.
The timing raised eyebrows. Adani hired Robert Giuffra Jr, a personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, to lead his defense. Shortly after Trump won the election, Adani pledged a $10 billion US investment. Reports suggest his lawyers brought up that money during talks with the DOJ.
Adani’s team swears the cash was never a trade for dropping the charges. The judge agreed it didn’t directly influence the decision, but noted the public can draw its own conclusions about equal justice.
Adani, who never stepped foot in a US courtroom during this mess, took to X to say he accepted the win with “humility” and that his faith in the law remained “unwavering.”
The criminal threat is over. But Adani and his companies still have to pay hundreds of millions in separate civil settlements. The criminal case is dead, but the questions about how it died will linger for a long time.
