{"text":[[{"start":10.85,"text":"The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled its case with Gautam Adani as other US enforcement agencies plan to end actions against the Indian billionaire and his business conglomerate, which has pledged to invest billions of dollars in the US. "}],[{"start":24.9,"text":"The settlement with the SEC is expected to be followed by moves from the Department of Justice and Office of Foreign Assets Control that could resolve Adani’s longstanding US legal headaches, several people familiar with the matter said."}],[{"start":37.95,"text":"It comes after Adani’s legal team privately mentioned to SEC and DoJ officials that the billionaire had pledged after Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory to invest $10bn in the US, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who said the investment was not part of any deals with law enforcement bodies. "}],[{"start":56.400000000000006,"text":"Adani, Asia’s richest man, agreed to pay $6mn and his nephew Sagar Adani will pay $12mn in a settlement with the SEC, the agency confirmed in a filing on Thursday evening. The regulator has asked a court to approve the measures. "}],[{"start":71.80000000000001,"text":"The pair made the agreements without admitting or denying the allegations, the document said. The SEC had claimed that they failed to disclose an alleged bribery scheme in India."}],[{"start":82.10000000000001,"text":"Separately, an Adani Group company was in talks to pay to settle an investigation by the Office of Foreign Assets Control into allegations it imported Iranian fuel into India, people briefed on the matter said. "}],[{"start":94.9,"text":"The DoJ was also preparing to dismiss a separate criminal case in which it alleged Adani and others “knowingly and wilfully conspired” to “pay bribes to and for the benefit of government officials in India” and did not disclose this to US investors, people with knowledge of the matter said. That case could not have gone to trial unless the defendants had travelled to the US. "}],[{"start":116.7,"text":"The DoJ and Ofac decisions are not final and the details are subject to change. Adani and his companies have consistently denied wrongdoing."}],[{"start":126.55,"text":"Adani and his businesses have lobbied the Trump administration and sought through their lawyers to have the SEC case thrown out. They overcame separate fraud probes by Indian regulators last year."}],[{"start":137.7,"text":"Adani Group and the SEC, DoJ and Treasury — which oversees Ofac — did not comment. The SEC had stepped up efforts earlier this year to formally serve the billionaire a summons after Indian authorities frustrated the US legal efforts."}],[{"start":152.75,"text":"Lawyers for Gautam and Sagar Adani last month asked a US judge to dismiss the SEC case, saying in a court filing that among other issues, it was “impermissibly extraterritorial”. "}],[{"start":165,"text":"The Trump administration last year halted, then restarted, enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a US anti-bribery law. Adani himself was not charged under that legislation, but the pause had raised hope within the conglomerate because it signalled the president saw anti-bribery enforcement as a lower priority than before. "}],[{"start":185.8,"text":"India’s capital markets regulator last year cleared the Adani Group of fraud allegations published by the now-defunct short seller Hindenburg Research."}],[{"start":203.5,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778816600_5142.mp3"}