US charges billionaire Gautam Adani with defrauding investors, hiding plan to bribe Indian officials

NEW YORK (AP) — An Indian businessman who is one of the world’s richest people has been indicted in the U.S. on charges he duped investors in a massive solar energy project in his home country by concealing that it was facilitated by alleged bribery.

Gautam Adani, 62, was charged in an indictment unsealed Wednesday with securities fraud and conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud.

He is accused of defrauding investors who poured several billion dollars into the project by failing to tell them about more than $250 million in bribes paid to Indian officials to secure lucrative solar energy supply contracts.