By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Gautam Adani, the billionaire chair of Indian conglomerate Adani Group and one of the world's richest people, has been indicted in New York over his role in an alleged multibillion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme, U.S. prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Authorities said Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India's largest solar power plant project.
Prosecutors also said the Adanis and another executive at Adani Green Energy (NS:ADNA), former CEO Vneet Jaain, raised more than $3 billion in loans and bonds by hiding their corruption from lenders and investors.
According to an indictment, some conspirators referred privately to Gautam Adani with the code names "Numero uno" and "the big man," while Sagar Adani allegedly used his cellphone to track specifics about the bribes.
Adani Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours in India, where the charges were announced early Thursday morning.
India's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for the defendants could not immediately be identified.
Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Jaain were charged with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy, and the Adanis were also charged in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil case.
The other five defendants were charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. anti-bribery law, and four were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice.
None of the defendants is in custody, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn said. Gautam Adani is believed to be in India.
BUILT EMPIRE
The 62-year-old Adani is worth $69.8 billion according to Forbes magazine, and one of the few billionaires formally accused in the United States of criminal wrongdoing.
His fortune makes him the world's 22nd-richest person, and second-richest in India behind Reliance Industries (NS:RELI) Chair Mukesh Ambani, Forbes said.
Adani grew up in India's Gujarat state, and dropped out of school at age 16.
He founded Adani Group in 1988 as a commodities trading firm, and built a business empire that has included airports, shipping ports, power generation, energy transmission and mining companies.
The charges were announced hours after Adani on Wednesday raised $600 million by selling 20-year "green" bonds.
They also came nearly two years after U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research accused Adani Group of using offshore tax havens improperly, which the company denied.
Hindenburg's January 2023 report sparked an approximately $150 billion meltdown in Adani Group stocks.
ADANI PLANNED INVESTMENTS, CONGRATULATED TRUMP
Others who were criminally charged on Wednesday include Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, respectively a former CEO and former chief strategy and commercial officer of Azure Power Global (OTC:AZREF), which authorities said agreed to pay some of the bribes.
The remaining criminal defendants worked for Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, a Canadian institutional investor, and included Cyril Cabanes, who was also an Azure director. He was also charged with wrongdoing by the SEC.
All of the defendants are Indian citizens apart from Cabanes, a dual French-Australian citizen who has lived in Singapore, prosecutors said.
According to court records, a judge has issued arrest warrants for Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, and prosecutors plan to hand those warrants to foreign law enforcement.
Last week, Gautam Adani posted on social media platform X that his conglomerate planned to invest $10 billion in U.S. energy security and infrastructure projects, creating a potential 15,000 jobs, without providing a timetable.
Adani announced the investment while also congratulating U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on his election win.
Trump has pledged to make it easier for energy companies to drill on federal land and build new pipelines.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also from Gujarat, has been accused by political opponents of protecting Adani and his companies, including from Hindenburg's accusations. Modi has dismissed the opposition's claims as "lies and abuses."