Billionaire Gautam Adani charged in New York with massive fraud

Gautam Adani, the chair of India’s Adani Group conglometerate and one of the world’s richest people, has been indicted in New York federal court with other defendants in connection with an alleged multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme, authorities said Wednesday.

Adani and two other defendants, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, who are executives of Adani Green Energy Limited, are accused of conspiring to commit wire fraud and securities fraud for their roles in obtaining funds from investors in the United States and international lenders “on the basis of false and misleading statements,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn said.

“The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.

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