The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a federal court for permission to personally email subpoenas to billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani after the US market regulator claimed that India’s Ministry of Law and Justice had rejected its request twice in the past 14 months.
“Approximately fourteen months ago, the SEC filed charges against defendants Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, prominent Indian business leaders, in connection with a $750 million bond offering that raised $175 million from U.S. investors,” SEC counsel Christopher M. Colorado wrote in a letter dated January 21, 2026.
“Since then, the defendants have retained three U.S. law firms and issued several public statements denying the SEC’s allegations, and their companies have filed regulatory notices confirming this action,” the SEC letter said.
Sagar Adani has hired Hecker Fink LLP, while Gautam Adani has hired Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, according to SEC disclosures. Hecker Fink confirmed its representation to the SEC on December 4, 2024, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Quinn Emanuel notified the SEC of their representation on February 28, 2025.
“Meanwhile, India’s Department of Law and Justice has twice refused to serve defendants under the Hague Convention on the Service of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters (the “Hague Convention” or the “Convention”) in response to SEC requests,” the SEC letter said.
Allegations of bribery
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 firm. Federal prosecutors have indicted a total of 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.
According to the indictment, Adani Green Energy Ltd obtained $2 billion from US and foreign investors based on false and misleading statements about the firm’s anti-corruption and anti-corruption efforts. Because of this, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has opened a criminal investigation, while the SEC is conducting a civil investigation against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and the then CEO of Adani Green Energy, Vineet Jain.
The Adani Group has denied the allegations, calling them “baseless” and reaffirming its commitment to maintaining the highest standards of governance and compliance.
