US SEC Tells Court It Has Yet To Serve Gautam and Sagar Adani in US$265 Million Bribery Case
Moneylife Digital Team 12 October 2025
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has informed a US federal court that it has been unable to serve summons and the complaint to billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani in connection with the ongoing US$265mn (million) bribery case.
 
 
In its latest court filing, the SEC said it has repeatedly communicated with India’s ministry of law & justice most recently on 14 September 2025 but the Indian authorities have not yet effected service through the required diplomatic channels.
 
The regulator added that it continues to coordinate with the ministry and is pursuing service through the Hague Service Convention, the international treaty governing judicial cooperation between nations.
 
The case stems from a November 2024 SEC summons, which accused the Adani executives of orchestrating and concealing a massive bribery network to secure renewable energy contracts in India.
 
According to the SEC, the Adanis paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to state government officials to win power supply agreements (PSAs) under terms that were detrimental to the states but ensured guaranteed profits for Adani Green Energy Ltd and Azure Power Global Ltd.
 
The complaint details a US$200mn bribe allegedly paid to officials in Andhra Pradesh to secure a 7,000MW (megawatt) agreement and additional payments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in Odisha for a 500MW power purchase deal.
 
The SEC also claims that Azure Power collaborated with Adani Green by transferring rights to profitable segments of the Andhra Pradesh project to Adani Green in order to disguise the financial transactions tied to the bribes.
 
The alleged bribery took place around the same time that Adani Green raised US$750mn through international bond offerings, including US$175mn from US investors. The SEC asserts that bond documents signed by Gautam and Sagar Adani falsely portrayed Adani Green as compliant with anti-bribery and ESG (environmental, social and governance) standards.
 
These representations, according to the SEC, were instrumental in attracting ESG-focused investors even as the executives were allegedly engaging in large-scale corruption.(Read: Gautam Adani and His Nephew Summoned by US SEC Over $265mn Bribery Allegations
 
This latest update adds a new layer of complexity to the Adani bribery scandal, especially given the continued silence of India’s Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and the ministry of power the very institutions that oversaw the allocation and monitoring of the renewable energy projects under scrutiny.
 
As previously reported by Moneylife neither entity has issued any public statement or initiated an internal review, raising questions about the oversight of public-private power agreements and the accountability of government bodies involved.( Adani Bribery Scandal: SECI & Power Ministry’s Silence Speaks Volumes)
 
The SEC’s persistence in pursuing the Adani executives underscores the international dimension of this case, which not only touches on corporate governance and corruption but also on diplomatic cooperation between the US and India.
 
The failure to complete service of process through formal channels could delay proceedings, but the regulator’s latest filing suggests it remains committed to holding the defendants accountable under US securities laws
 
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