On November 20, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced parallel charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, business associate Cyril Cabanes of Azure Power Global Ltd, and other senior business executives in connection with an alleged $250 million bribery scheme in violation of U.S. securities laws and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). The Adanis, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd., an Indian renewable-energy company, were charged with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud to obtain funds from U.S. investors and global financial institutions through false statements involving one of the world’s largest solar energy projects.

The charges against the Adanis and their associates underscore the transnational reach of U.S. securities laws and the FCPA. Under the SEC Whistleblower Program, individuals from across the globe can anonymously report securities fraud and FCPA violations and may qualify for monetary awards.

Adani Indictment: A $250 Million Bribery Scheme

According to the DOJ, between 2020 and 2024, the defendants agreed to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain lucrative energy contracts with the Indian government, which were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits.

Allegedly, Adani Green raised $750 million from investors through the sale of corporate bonds, including $175 million from U.S. investors.

As alleged, Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain caused the Indian Energy Company to raise capital using false and misleading statements in connection with U.S. loans totaling more than $2 billion and Rule 144A bond offerings for more than $1 billion underwritten by international financial institutions and US investors. They also were charged with conspiracy to misrepresent the Indian Energy Company’s anti-bribery and corruption practices in order to avoid scrutiny.

“The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively prosecute corrupt, deceptive, and obstructive conduct that violates U.S. law, no matter where in the world it occurs.” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Miller.

Beyond bribery, Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, Deepak Malhotra and Rupesh Agarwal allegedly conspired to obstruct the grand jury, FBI and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations into the bribery scheme by deleting electronic materials related to the scheme.

The SEC’s complaint against Gautam and Sagar Adani charges them with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”), Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and with aiding and abetting violations of Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, and Rule 10b-5(b) thereunder

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Dennehy stated, “The FBI maintains its steadfast mission to expose all corrupt agreements, especially with international governments, and protect investors from related harm.”

How Indian Whistleblowers Can Use U.S. Laws to Report Corruption

Under the SEC Whistleblower Programs, individuals with original information on securities fraud or FCPA violations may be eligible for awards of 10-30% of monetary sanction collected when their information leads to a successful enforcement action of over $1 million. Critically, whistleblowers can report anonymously through the SEC Whistleblower Program, keeping their confidentiality intact.

As the Adani indictment shows, SEC actions can include conduct which occurs overseas and the Commission’s whistleblower program covers individuals all across the globe. The SEC has received thousands of whistleblower tips from foreign whistleblowers and has issued numerous awards for conduct occurring overseas. According to the program’s latest annual report, India was the foreign country with the third highest number of whistleblower tips submitted in Fiscal Year 2024.

The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA “prohibit U.S. persons and businesses (domestic concerns), U.S. and foreign public companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States or that are required to file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (issuers), and certain foreign persons and businesses acting while in the territory of the United States (territorial jurisdiction) from making corrupt payments to foreign officials to obtain or retain business.” Since 2011, the SEC alone has fined 11 companies in connection to bribery in India. Last year, the American-based Albermale Corp., a specialty chemicals company, received a penalty of $103 million to settle with the SEC for bribes paid for sales in public-sector oil refineries, including in India.

The long arm of U.S. whistleblower laws under the FCPA can effectively address corruption in India, allowing Indian whistleblowers to report corruption and bribery of government officials by companies with U.S. investors. In 2022, the DOJ and SEC imposed over $1.5 billion in sanctions in FCPA cases, according to a new report by FCPA Clearinghouse.

Other transnational U.S. whistleblower laws include the Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) and Sanctions Whistleblower Program, which covers misconduct under the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) as well as violations of U.S. sanctions. The AML program also covers trade in informal markets and with informal players under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act and Sections 5 and 12 of the Trading With the Enemy Act. Indian nationals can use these laws to combat the corrupt practices of transnational conglomerates.

The globalized nature of today’s economy causes many major bribery schemes to fall under the purview of the U.S. government. Foreign national whistleblowers now stand a chance against collusion between big industry and government cronyism.