For the Fifth Time, SEC Reports 'No Progress' in Serving Adanis in India

New Delhi: For the fifth time in eight months, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a status report with the Eastern District of New York stating that India's Ministry of Law and Justice has not served legal papers to industrialists Gautam and Sagar Adani.

In a two-page letter filed on December 12, SEC counsel Christopher M. Colorado informed Magistrate Judge James R. Cho that the agency has made no concrete progress in serving the defendants.

"The SEC has been in periodic contact with India's MOLJ and understands that they have not yet effected service," Colorado wrote.

He added, "The SEC's efforts to serve the Defendants are ongoing and it will keep the Court informed of its progress."

The filing marks over a year since the initial complaint was lodged in November 2024. Since the Adanis reside in India, the SEC has to deliver the summons through diplomatic channels of the Hague Service Convention.

The commission first reached out to Indian authorities in February 2025, nearly three months after filing the complaint on November 20, 2024.

On February 18, 2025, the SEC informed the court that it had formally initiated the service process. "Additionally, under Article 5(a) of the Hague Service Convention, the SEC has requested assistance from India's Ministry of Law and Justice, the Central Authority for India under the Hague Service Convention," the agency wrote in its February status report.

However, that claim was almost immediately contradicted by the Indian government.

In response to a Right to Information (RTI) query, the Department of Legal Affairs under the Union law and justice ministry stated that "no such request [had] been received" as of February 21, 2025, three days after the SEC told the US court that the request had already been made.

The SEC claimed in its next status report filed on April 25 that the Indian government had finally acknowledged the request. "Since the February Status Update, the India MoLJ has confirmed to the SEC that it received the SEC's request for assistance under the Hague Service Convention and that it has, in turn, requested that the relevant judicial authorities within India attempt to serve the Summons and Complaint on Defendants," the SEC wrote.

Despite that confirmation in April, the momentum appears to have evaporated. In the eight months following that update, the SEC has filed repeated status reports – in June, August, October, and now December – each confirming that the papers have still not been served.

"The SEC intends to continue communicating with the India MoLJ and pursue service of the Defendants via the Hague Service Convention, and will keep the Court apprised of its efforts," the agency wrote in its August 11 filing.

By October, following a lapse in federal appropriations that furloughed staff in a US government shutdown, the agency reported it had last communicated with Indian officials on September 14 to no avail. The latest filing on December 12 confirms the situation remains unchanged.

The SEC has attempted to bypass the diplomatic route by directly approaching the Adanis' legal team. In its April report, the agency disclosed that it had identified counsel for Gautam Adani.

"SEC counsel has learned the identity of counsel representing defendant Gautam Adani in connection with the SEC's allegations in this matter and it sent a Notice of Lawsuit and Request for Waiver of Service of Summons to that counsel," the filing stated.

Those efforts, however, were rebuffed. The agency noted, "To date, neither Defendant has agreed to waive service of the Summons and Complaint."

According to the SEC's 39-page complaint filed in Nov 2024, Gautam Adani, founder, chairman, and controlling shareholder of Adani Green Energy Ltd, and Sagar Adani, the company's executive director, orchestrated a scheme to secure contracts necessary for developing what was described as India's largest solar power plant project. It accused the two of misleading US investors with false claims during a 2021 debt offering by Adani Green Energy.

The Adani Group denied the charges, terming them “baseless”.

In a separate SEC action filed the same day, the commission charged Cyril Cabanes, a former member of Azure Power Global Ltd's Board of Directors, with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for his role in the alleged bribery scheme. According to the SEC's complaint, Cabanes allegedly facilitated the authorization of bribes in furtherance of the scheme while in the United States and abroad.

The US attorney for the Eastern District of New York also unsealed an indictment, in a parallel criminal action filed the same day as the SEC complaint, charging Gautam and Sagar Adani, along with six others, with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. That case alleges bribes totalling approximately USD 265 million to secure solar energy contracts expected to generate USD 2 billion in profits over 20 years.

Five of the defendants, including Cabanes, were additionally charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the alleged bribery scheme. Arrest warrants have been issued for the defendants, though none have been apprehended as they are not currently in the United States.

In February 2025, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order pausing new FCPA investigations and enforcement actions for 180 days, directing the Attorney General to issue revised guidelines.

The pause was lifted in June 2025 with new guidelines that refocus enforcement on cases involving drug cartels and transnational criminal organszations, and on conduct that directly undermines US national interests. However, the SEC retains civil authority to enforce the FCPA against companies with publicly traded securities in the United States.

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