An Indian businessman who is one of the world's richest people has been indicted in the U.S. on charges he duped investors by concealing that his company's huge solar energy project on the subcontinent was being facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme.
Gautam Adani , 62, was charged in an indictment unsealed Wednesday with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. The case involves a lucrative arrangement for Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government - enough to light millions of homes and businesses.
The indictment paints Adani and his co-defendants as playing two sides of the deal.
It accuses them of portraying it as rosy and above-board to Wall Street investors who poured several billion dollars into the project over the last five years while, back in India, they were paying or planning to pay about 265 million in bribes to government officials to help secure billions of dollars' worth of contracts and financing.
Adani and his co-defendants sought to "obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of U.S. investors," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller said.
