US regulator seeks to bypass Indian government to serve Adani summons

The U.S. Securities and Exchange ⁠Commission has asked a U.S. court for help in serving summonses upon Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and group executive Sagar Adani over alleged fraud and a $265 million bribery scheme, filings show. India, the SEC said, has previously refused its two procedural requests to serve the summonses ‌for its civil ‌case.

In a high-profile legal case in the U.S. involving an Indian conglomerate, the SEC has been trying to send summonses to Adani group founder Gautam ‌Adani and his nephew Sagar since last year.

Adani group has called the allegations "baseless" and said that it would seek "all possible legal recourse" to defend itself. It did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the latest SEC filing, dated January 21. Serving a summons is often routine, but the SEC said India's law ministry had refused two requests ​to have its summonses served on the Adanis.


The regulator asked a judge ​to instead let it serve the summonses on the Adanis' U.S.-based lawyers, and email copies to the Adanis. U.S. ‌civil procedural rules ‍allow this method of service, the SEC said. "Given defendants’ actual knowledge of this litigation -- ‍demonstrated by public statements, regulatory filings, and retention of U.S. counsel -- email service ‌to their business addresses will provide effective notice," the SEC added.

India's law ministry also did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request seeking comment on the latest filing. It has previously described the issue as a legal issue between private firms and the United States.

ALLEGED SCHEME TO BRIBE INDIAN OFFICIALS

U.S. authorities in November 2024 accused Adani group executives of being part of a scheme to pay bribes to Indian officials for buying electricity produced by Adani Green Energy , a unit of the Adani group. The SEC filed ‍a civil case against Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, which is separate from the U.S. Department of Justice's criminal indictment against the Adanis and several other defendants. The Justice Department case remains open, ‍court records show.

The ⁠SEC complaint says the executives ⁠also misled U.S. investors by providing information about the company's anti-graft practices.

The two rejections by India to serve the summons, the SEC filing said, were based on procedural reasons, such as signature and seal requirements, none of which it said is needed in summons sent to individuals in another country under the international treaties of the Hague Convention.

In its second rejection in December last year, the court filing added that India's law ministry appeared to raise doubts about the SEC's authority to request service of summons.

"These responses demonstrate that further attempts through the Hague Convention are unlikely to succeed," the SEC filing said. Ties between India and the U.S. have deteriorated over U.S. President Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs.