New York: Billionaire Gautam Adani is scheduled to file a sworn affidavit before a US federal court this week to clarify whether he is aware of any undisclosed agreement linking the dismissal of a criminal indictment against him to potential investments by his conglomerate in the United States. The directive follows intense legal scrutiny after the US Department of Justice requested the court to drop the high-profile securities fraud case, citing it as legally indefensible.
The matter intensified after Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter submitted a 10-page written filing defending the government’s move. McCotter stated that he alone made the prosecutorial decision based on a review of the merits, explicitly denying media reports that suggested the criminal charges were dropped in exchange for a commitment by the defendants to invest in the United States. He noted that the case should never have been brought forward in the first place due to foreign jurisdiction limitations, a lack of local impact, and absence of investor losses.
However, US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn, New York, observed that the government’s recent submissions raised the possibility that some form of quid pro quo arrangement might have existed, even if none had been formally disclosed to the court. The judge maintained that before approving the dismissal with prejudice, the court must be fully satisfied that no undisclosed deal or external leverage influenced the government’s prosecutorial discretion.
Consequently, Adani has been directed by the court to respond in writing by July 15, 2026. The affidavit must explicitly address whether he has any knowledge of a promise, offer, agreement, or benefit connected with the dismissal, or any exchange made in return for the indictment being dropped. Sources close to the development indicated that the industrialist is highly likely to submit the filing well within the week, while the Adani Group declined to offer an official statement as the matter remains sub judice.
