• Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been accused of a massive bribery scheme.
• US prosecutors allege that he and his executives bribed Indian government officials to secure energy contracts.
• Adani and its executives convinced American investors to buy bonds on false promises, prosecutors allege.

Prosecutors brought bribery charges against the billionaire Gautam Adanione of India’s richest men, alleging that the business tycoon and seven of his senior executives paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to the Indian government and hid them from American investors.

New York prosecutors allege in an indictment that Adani and its executives promised more than $250 million in bribes to win solar power contracts from the Indian government.

In a separate action, the SEC on Wednesday charged Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, with violating anti-fraud provisions of federal securities laws. The SEC’s complaint seeks permanent injunctions, civil penalties and bars for officers and directors.

“As alleged, Gautam and Sagar Adani induced US investors to buy Adani Green bonds through a bidding process that misrepresented not only that Adani Green had a robust anti-bribery compliance program, but that management superior of the company did not pay and would not have promised to pay a bribe,” a statement from Sanjay Wadhwa, Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in part.

Gautam Adani, the founder and chairman of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group, is estimated to be worth more than $85 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The company did not immediately respond to BI’s request for comment.

Adani and its executives convinced American investors to buy bonds in one of the companies using false promises, prosecutors allege.

Attorneys for the defendants could not immediately be reached.

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