Justice Department Defends Dropping Charges Against Indian Billionaire

Source: NYT

The Justice Department on Saturday forcefully argued that an offer from India’s richest man, Gautam Adani, to invest billions of dollars in the United States played no role in the department’s decision to abandon criminal charges against him.

In a letter filed on Saturday, Trent McCotter, the principal associate deputy attorney general, defended the Justice Department’s decision after a federal judge demanded that the government explain its move. Mr. McCotter accused people within the department of leaking to media outlets about the case and acting “unethically.”

The New York Times reported in May that Robert J. Giuffra Jr., a lawyer for Mr. Adani, had met with Justice Department officials to argue why the case should be abandoned. He asserted that prosecutors lacked basic evidence; at one point, he said that Mr. Adani could invest $10 billion in the United States and create tens of thousands of jobs, if the charges were dropped.

Mr. McCotter appeared to acknowledge the existence of such an offer, but said that the decision to end the criminal case had been reached before the offer was made.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/nyregion/adani-justice-department.html