MUMBAI: Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani have hired prominent US lawyers — including one of Donald Trump’s lawyers and a former mob prosecutor — to represent them in their defense against securities fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Senior Adani has appointed law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP with Robert Giuffra leading the team representing him, according to a Jan. 30 court filing. Giuffra is one of the most prominent white-collar crime defense attorneys in the US, representing US President Donald Trump and the German automaker Volkswagen.
Giuffra is leading Trump’s appeal of his conviction in a money laundering case in which a Manhattan jury found US president guilty of falsifying business records to pay former adult film actor to conceal their alleged involvement.
Giuffra also represented Volkswagen in its multibillion-dollar “diesel-gate” emissions-cheating scandal. He was national coordinating counsel for a German firm and negotiated a $14.7 billion settlement with US regulators.
Successfully defended Goldman Sachs in a class action arising out of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Nicolas Bourtin, also of Sullivan & Cromwell, is part of Adani’s defense team. Bourtin was previously an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where the SEC is litigating Adani. During his time as a prosecutor, he successfully prosecuted the senior leadership of several New York mob families for extortion, murder, and extortion.
Three other lawyers from Sullivan & Cromwell — Suhana Han, James McDonald and Andrew DeFilippis — will also represent the Adani group chairman, according to court filings.
Sagar Adani has hired Timothy D Sini, a partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, as its counsel. D Sini also has experience in public prosecutions, having served as a district attorney in Suffolk. He specializes in matters involving government investigations or allegations brought by regulatory agencies such as the SEC.
Jean Carroll case
The younger Adani also appointed Sean Hecker, a founding partner of the boutique law firm Hecker Fink LLP, as his counsel. Hecker is a leading trial lawyer. Hecker Fink most notably represented E. Jean Carroll in her successful litigation against Donald Trump. A jury verdict in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages.
Emails to those lawyers seeking comment went unanswered. The Adani Group also did not comment.
Gautam Adani previously hired Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP. But when Adani made its first submission to the court last month, it was drafted by the folks at Sullivan Cromwell. It is unclear whether Adani Group has retained the services of Kirkland & Ellis and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
What are the charges?
In November 2024, US prosecutors alleged that $250 million in bribes were paid to unnamed Indian officials in exchange for favorable terms on solar power contracts awarded to Adani Green Energy Ltd and Azure Power Global Ltd, another New Delhi-based company.
The US Department of Justice has indicted eight individuals who allegedly paid more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials between 2020 and 2024 to win lucrative solar power contracts. The SEC launched parallel proceedings against Adani’s relatives and a separate one against Cyril Cabanes, a former Azure Power executive.
According to the indictment against Adanis, Adani Green Energy received $2 billion from the US and foreign investors based on false and misleading statements about the company’s anti-corruption and anti-bribery efforts. Because of this, the US Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation, while the SEC is conducting a civil investigation against Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani.
The Adani Group has denied the allegations, calling them “baseless” and reaffirming its commitment to maintaining the highest standards of governance and compliance.