A US judge let Adani's case go, then torched the process

Judge Nicholas Garaufis dismissed three of five counts against Gautam Adani but called the Justice Department's handling of it highly unusual and singled out Trent McCotter, a senior political appointee, for allegedly overriding the FBI, the SEC, and career prosecutors on his own judgment. The judge went further: he ordered Adani to answer under oath whether anything was promised, offered, sought, received, agreed to, or accepted in exchange for the dismissal, a demand aimed squarely at reports of a proposed $10 billion US investment tied to the case, as detailed in the underlying court filings. Adani's lawyers had spent months building their case with what one report described as roughly 600 pages of submissions and expert testimony. None of that answers the judge's real question: whether prosecutorial discretion and political convenience have become impossible to tell apart. Two counts remain unresolved. For anyone underwriting Adani Group risk, the exoneration is procedural, not reputational.