{"id":364309,"date":"2025-02-03T10:04:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T09:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=364309"},"modified":"2025-02-03T10:04:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T09:04:49","slug":"case-against-indias-gautam-adani-is-a-case-against-american-national-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=364309","title":{"rendered":"Case against India\u2019s Gautam Adani is a case against American national interest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Duggan Flanakin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In late November of last year, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of New York indicted Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani<\/a>, founder of one of India\u2019s biggest companies, on securities and wire fraud charges concerning the sale of certain bonds. The alleged \u201cfraud\u201d was related to the failure to disclose an alleged scheme to bribe regional government officials in India\u2014a scheme that has virtually nothing to do with the United States. There are no victims of the alleged fraud. All investors have been fully paid on their investments to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to potential damage to Adani and the\u00a0Adani Group<\/a>, the 11th<\/sup>-hour indictment\u00a0harms relations<\/a> between the U.S. and India at a time when the U.S. needs India as a counter-balance to China. It sends exactly the wrong signal to the international companies that invest billions of dollars in the U.S. and employ tens of thousands of Americans. It also has the potential to cripple the U.S. dollar\u2019s status as the world\u2019s global reserve currency. The indictment has the hallmarks of \u201clawfare\u201d \u2013 a case that is brought against an individual or entity that is meant to intimidate or hinder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adani, who is fighting what he calls the \u201cbaseless\u201d charges, rose from a modest mercantile family to become one of Asia\u2019s richest people. He founded the Adani Group in 1988 as a commodities-trading firm. It has grown to become a $200 billion conglomerate that includes ten publicly traded companies specializing in ports, airports, power generation and transmission and green energy. The Adani Group is the de facto infrastructure builder of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DOJ case against the Adani Group comes at a critical time in the U.S.-India relationship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump built a warm relationship during Trump\u2019s first administration, and Modi is likely to come to the U.S. soon. As China\u2019s adversarial relationship with the U.S. continues, and Beijing\u2019s increasing gravitation toward Moscow escalates, the U.S. needs India as a friend in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his first term, Trump revived the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) with India, Japan and Australia to counter China militarily and diplomatically through the Indo-Pacific. Trump wants and needs to expand strong relations with Delhi \u2013 this is crucial to American national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India is also key to American economic security. Indian companies have invested more than $40 billion in the U.S. and employ more than 425,000 workers here, according to a 2023 Confederation of Indian Industry report. Indian companies invest in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, former President Biden\u2019s DOJ has handed the Trump administration a criminal case involving one of the most important companies in a country that is critical to the Indo-Pacific\u2019s stability and prosperity. The indictment was announced two weeks after Trump\u2019s re-election. It\u2019s awkward to say the least; politically damaging to bilateral relations, at the worst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is another point about this case that should not be overlooked: Potential peril to the dollar\u2019s global dominance. The U.S. dollar is the world\u2019s reserve currency for a reason \u2013 it is backed by the strongest, richest country in the history of the world. But it\u2019s not invulnerable. China and Russia are leading BRICS nations in de-dollarization efforts. Brazil and China abandoned the dollar as an intermediary and now trade in each other\u2019s currencies. If the only requirement for U.S. law enforcement officials to extend their long arms around the globe is that a transaction is conducted in dollars, or has some technical, tenuous connection to the U.S., it will disincentivize every party \u2013 including law-abiding ones \u2013 from using the dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the Adani Group\u2019s size and reach, it has become a target of rivals inside and outside of India. In 2023, U.S. short seller Hindenburg Research questioned the Adani Group\u2019s financial footing, prompting a large sell-off of company shares. The company fought back with an extensive response, and called the report a \u201cmalicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations.\u201d Investors agreed, as company shares quickly recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Indian government questioned Hindenburg\u2019s motives. In July of last year, India\u2019s securities regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, alleged that Hindenburg gave an asset manager client access to a Hindenburg report on the Adani Group before it was made public, to set up a short bet against the Group. One Indian lawmaker called on the government to probe whether Chinese interests were behind the attacks on Adani, as the conglomerate outbid Chinese rivals to win the Port of Haifa in Israel in early 2023, several months before the Hindenburg report. More recently, Hindenburg itself has gone out of business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adani investors responded to the DOJ allegations as they did to the Hindenburg report. Shares of Adani Green Energy, the company at the heart of the DOJ case, rallied 20 percent in the days following the company\u2019s refutation of the indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eastern District of New York has a history of exhibiting prosecutorial zeal while trying to police the world. It notably failed in 2019, when a jury took only five hours to acquit a defendant who suffered nine months of imprisonment before a six-week trial that called into question the extraterritorial reach of statutes related to financial crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should not take a lengthy trial and months of reputational damage for a similar outcome to be reached for Gautam Adani. The case against him is a case against the American national interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In late November of last year, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of New York indicted Adani Group Chairman\u00a0Gautam Adani, founder of one of India\u2019s biggest companies, on securities and wire fraud charges concerning the sale of certain bonds. The alleged \u201cfraud\u201d was related to the failure to disclose an alleged scheme to bribe regional government officials in India\u2014a scheme that has virtually nothing to do with the United States. There are no victims of the alleged fraud. All investors have been fully paid on their investments to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":364310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691833010,691833009,691829565,691833008,691818118,691833011],"class_list":{"0":"post-364309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-adani-group","9":"tag-eastern-district-of-new-york","10":"tag-energy-transmission","11":"tag-gautam-adani","12":"tag-green-energy","13":"tag-president-bidens-doj","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0-India.jpeg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1wLX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":242332,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=242332","url_meta":{"origin":364309,"position":0},"title":"India to use emergency law to maximise coal power output","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/30\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"India plans to use an emergency law next month to force power plants that run on imported coal to maximise output, two government sources told Reuters on Monday, in preparation for expected record consumption this summer.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1314.png?fit=1200%2C711&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1314.png?fit=1200%2C711&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1314.png?fit=1200%2C711&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1314.png?fit=1200%2C711&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1314.png?fit=1200%2C711&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":401763,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=401763","url_meta":{"origin":364309,"position":1},"title":"\u2018Unpaid wages, searing heat, long hours\u2019: why workers are quitting the world\u2019s largest renewable energy park","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/12\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The park is a hybrid project combining solar and wind power generation with a planned capacity of 30GW.","rel":"","context":"In \"Adani Green renewable energy\"","block_context":{"text":"Adani Green renewable energy","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=adani-green-renewable-energy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0AQN6D-9fMJBJdhAXTKCJGLqNAEfmfXCtWGnpFRwLn9Q1_OcDGgZpdeFUbva_plDAqWOnj1L8G7omlz5Y4Ss8-zyhkdu7YHhvO7UdXm5tEskk5zeBzGsU8Bi9HcM33AAlQt69z0p8RhllRitu-pa5HBbcL0P2ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0AQN6D-9fMJBJdhAXTKCJGLqNAEfmfXCtWGnpFRwLn9Q1_OcDGgZpdeFUbva_plDAqWOnj1L8G7omlz5Y4Ss8-zyhkdu7YHhvO7UdXm5tEskk5zeBzGsU8Bi9HcM33AAlQt69z0p8RhllRitu-pa5HBbcL0P2ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0AQN6D-9fMJBJdhAXTKCJGLqNAEfmfXCtWGnpFRwLn9Q1_OcDGgZpdeFUbva_plDAqWOnj1L8G7omlz5Y4Ss8-zyhkdu7YHhvO7UdXm5tEskk5zeBzGsU8Bi9HcM33AAlQt69z0p8RhllRitu-pa5HBbcL0P2ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0AQN6D-9fMJBJdhAXTKCJGLqNAEfmfXCtWGnpFRwLn9Q1_OcDGgZpdeFUbva_plDAqWOnj1L8G7omlz5Y4Ss8-zyhkdu7YHhvO7UdXm5tEskk5zeBzGsU8Bi9HcM33AAlQt69z0p8RhllRitu-pa5HBbcL0P2ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0AQN6D-9fMJBJdhAXTKCJGLqNAEfmfXCtWGnpFRwLn9Q1_OcDGgZpdeFUbva_plDAqWOnj1L8G7omlz5Y4Ss8-zyhkdu7YHhvO7UdXm5tEskk5zeBzGsU8Bi9HcM33AAlQt69z0p8RhllRitu-pa5HBbcL0P2ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":383720,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=383720","url_meta":{"origin":364309,"position":2},"title":"Big, Beautiful Coal Here for Many More Years Despite \u2018Green\u2019 Demonization","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/19\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"As a boy growing up beside India\u2019s railway lines, I found magic in the metallic thunder of passing trains. Now and then, freight cars piled high with black coal would roll by. That same evening, our lights would flicker out.","rel":"","context":"In \"Adani Power\"","block_context":{"text":"Adani Power","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=adani-power"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/OIG-2023-08-16T125118.723.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/OIG-2023-08-16T125118.723.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/OIG-2023-08-16T125118.723.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/OIG-2023-08-16T125118.723.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":313051,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=313051","url_meta":{"origin":364309,"position":3},"title":"How China captured the sun \u2013 and cast a shadow over Europe","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/26\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Europe\u2019s ambitious plans to expand green energy generation with \u201cMade in EU\u201d solar panels face a distinctly cloudy future as the continent faces a massive glut of the devices.","rel":"","context":"In \"China\"","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=china"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/00solar-panels-europe-a03.jpg?fit=1200%2C655&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/00solar-panels-europe-a03.jpg?fit=1200%2C655&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/00solar-panels-europe-a03.jpg?fit=1200%2C655&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/00solar-panels-europe-a03.jpg?fit=1200%2C655&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/00solar-panels-europe-a03.jpg?fit=1200%2C655&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":256996,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=256996","url_meta":{"origin":364309,"position":4},"title":"SI KINSELLA vs. SOUTH FORK WIND, BOEM, et al.","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/11\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Si Kinsella is a resident of\u00a0Suffolk County New York, a seaside community that is a staging area for\u00a0South\u00a0Fork Wind, a 132 MW, 15-turbine project located 35 miles offshore.\u00a0He is representing himself on behalf of his neighbors.","rel":"","context":"In \"Bureau of Ocean Energy Management\"","block_context":{"text":"Bureau of Ocean Energy Management","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bureau-of-ocean-energy-management"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0SFW-Substation-Redering.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0SFW-Substation-Redering.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0SFW-Substation-Redering.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0SFW-Substation-Redering.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/0SFW-Substation-Redering.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":292450,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=292450","url_meta":{"origin":364309,"position":5},"title":"Former Greens Leader Bob Brown says wind industry and renewables are profiteering off climate","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/23\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally, the wheel turns and the Greens start to realize their bedfellows might be the environmental wreckers and industrial profiteers that they thought they were working against. Finally there is a point where the price of \u201cclimate action\u201d can be too damn high. And somehow, the ends does not\u00a0always\u00a0justify the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bob Brown\"","block_context":{"text":"Bob Brown","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bob-brown"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0a55f4812aa6877211eb8240bdfe763aa.jpeg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0a55f4812aa6877211eb8240bdfe763aa.jpeg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0a55f4812aa6877211eb8240bdfe763aa.jpeg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0a55f4812aa6877211eb8240bdfe763aa.jpeg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0a55f4812aa6877211eb8240bdfe763aa.jpeg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=364309"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":364314,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364309\/revisions\/364314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/364310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=364309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=364309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=364309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}