Washington: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has served a summons to Gautam Adani, the chairman of the Adani Group, amid U.S. bribery charges. According to a federal court filing, Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, are accused of engaging in extensive bribery schemes to benefit an Adani company, while misleading investors about the company’s adherence to antibribery laws during a $750 million bond offering.

The SEC’s lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of New York, demands that the Adanis respond within 21 days. The regulatory body is seeking unspecified financial penalties and imposing restrictions that would prevent them from holding officer positions in publicly listed companies.

Representatives of the Adani Group have not commented on the matter, although the group has strongly denied the criminal charges, calling them “baseless.” The Adani Group's CFO indicated that the indictment pertains to one contract with Adani Green Energy, which constitutes about 10% of the business, and emphasized that no other subsidiaries are implicated.

In addition to the SEC lawsuit, U.S. federal prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for both Gautam and Sagar Adani, accusing them of being involved in a $265 million bribery scheme to secure power supply contracts in India. These bribes were allegedly aimed at facilitating the development of the largest solar power plant project in India, expected to generate $2 billion in profit over two decades.

This legal crisis marks the second major scandal for the Adani Group in two years, following a series of financial and reputational setbacks. The charges have already led to significant market repercussions, with the value of Adani Group companies plummeting and the cancellation of a high-profile airport project in Kenya.