By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Luc Cohen
WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) – The Trump administration moved to dismiss criminal fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani on Monday, while also resolving alleged violations of Iran sanctions involving one of his companies, court records show.
The resolution of pending cases against one of the world’s richest people came after Adani’s lawyer, who is also US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, said last month that his client wanted to invest $10 billion in the United States but was unable to do so while the cases were moving forward, according to a source familiar with the matter.
It is the latest example of Trump’s Justice Department abandoning a high-profile case brought under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
Adani, a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is worth an estimated $82 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Adani had been accused of agreeing to pay $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials so that the Adani Group could gain approval to develop India’s largest solar power plant. Prosecutors said he and his alleged accomplices raised more than $3 billion by hiding their corruption from lenders and investors.
The Adani Group has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Adani is the founder and president of the company.
Earlier on Monday, the US Treasury Department said Adani Enterprises, part of the Adani Group, had agreed to pay $275 million to resolve alleged sanctions violations, in which Adani Enterprises had purchased shipments of liquefied petroleum gas from a Dubai-based trader that purported to supply Omani and Iraqi gas that had actually originated in Iran.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission separately settled a civil lawsuit against Adani over an alleged scheme to bribe Indian government officials, court records showed last week, although the move is subject to court approval.
(Reporting by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Susan Heavey; editing by Andy Sullivan, Michelle Nichols, Rod Nickel)