Indian business magnate Gautam Adani's representatives have met with officials from the US administration under Donald Trump to discuss the possibility of having criminal charges against him dropped. These charges are related to an overseas bribery investigation, as reported by Bloomberg.

Meetings on the issue started earlier this year and have picked up speed recently. If they keep going at this rate, the issue might be settled within a month. According to Bloomberg, Adani’s team has said that the case doesn’t match President Donald Trump’s current policy focus, and they’ve asked for it to be reviewed again. Gautam Adani, the head of the multinational Adani Group, along with his nephew Sagar Adani, has been formally charged with offering $265 million in bribes to government officials in India in order to win contracts related to solar energy projects. 

Along with the criminal charges, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed a civil case. The SEC said that the Adani Group misled American investors by not revealing bribery payments during a $750 million bond sale by its renewable energy company, Adani Green Energy Ltd. Authorities said this was a case of securities fraud. Cyril Cabanes, a former board member of Azure Power Global, was also mentioned in the complaint. He was accused of helping to run the bribery scheme while working in both India and abroad. The charges against the Adani executives include fraud involving securities and wire transfers, blocking investigations, and breaking the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The FCPA is a U.S. law that makes it illegal to bribe foreign officials to gain a business advantage.

At that time, U.S. regulators demanded tough actions like permanent bans, financial penalties, and preventing both Gautam and Sagar Adani from being directors or executives at any publicly traded company. The Adani Group has denied all the accusations. To reduce legal and financial risks, the company has hired several legal and lobbying firms in the U.S. According to a Bloomberg report, one of the meetings took place in March and included U.S. prosecutors from the Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn and officials from the Department of Justice. In April, Adani Green Energy also said that its internal investigation found no signs of wrongdoing or breaking any rules.