What does a newsroom do when the biggest news of the day is about the person who owns it?

For NDTV, now owned by Adani Group, that question became more than theoretical this week as US authorities reportedly move to drop fraud charges against Gautam Adani.

The US authorities had in November 2024 indicted Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani for allegedly orchestrating a $265 million fraud scheme to bribe officials in India for solar energy contracts, and then misrepresenting the company’s anti-bribery practices to investors in the US. The details of the alleged bribes were hidden to secure financing, the US justice department had alleged. The Adani Group denied the allegations. In a stock exchange filing in November 2024, the conglomerate said that Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani had been charged in the US for securities fraud.

On its website, NDTV republished a Bloomberg report under the headline: “US authorities moving to end cases against Gautam Adani: Report.” It pointed out that the United States Department of Justice may drop criminal charges as soon as this week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is exploring to settle a parallel civil fraud case, and the Adani Group – while continuing to deny all wrongdoing – could emerge with its biggest legal headache behind it.

The report outlined the likely financial penalties and revisited the November 2024 indictment, which accused Adani and associates of involvement in an alleged bribery scheme linked to solar energy contracts in India.

On television, NDTV India was even more brisk.

“Gautam Adani par Bloomberg ke hawaale se badi khabar mil rahi hai,” the anchor announced. It kept it simple: the US cases against Adani may be ending, and the group denies all allegations.

Both the website story and the television bulletin included a disclaimer noting that NDTV is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group company.

So far, so proper.

But what NDTV left out is where the story gets genuinely interesting.

The NYT report

The New York Times, also reporting on the same development, added a key detail.

According to the Times, citing people familiar with the matter, Adani’s legal team went to the Justice Department with 100 slides arguing that there was prosecutorial overreach. Those slides also reportedly contained something more transactional. There was an “unusual offer”, according to the Times. If prosecutors dropped the charges, Adani would invest $10 billion in the American economy and help create 15,000 jobs.

The Times reported that Adani hired Robert J Giuffra Jr, one of Donald Trump’s personal lawyers, to lead his legal team, and that the meeting at DOJ headquarters in Washington where this offer was presented took place in April.

On November 13, 2024 – days after Trump won the presidential election – Adani had publicly congratulated the president-elect and announced his conglomerate’s commitment to investing $10 billion in the US and creating 15,000 jobs. That public pledge and the private legal offer, the Times report indicated, were one and the same.

The US Department of Treasury, which is separately investigating the conglomerate for shipping Iranian gas in violation of United States sanctions, is also preparing to impose its own penalty, The New York Times reported. This penalty could be about $275 million, the newspaper quoted persons with knowledge of the matter as having said.

NDTV Profit cites experts to hint at market victory

NDTV Profit put up a report headlined, “‘Victory for Adani Group’: Experts say US case closure ‘opens doors for global capital’”.

“The US authorities moving to drop fraud charges against Gautam Adani and the Adani Group is a big positive for the Indian conglomerate, according to market experts tracking the matter. Adani Enterprises share price has rallied 12% in the past five sessions. Group stocks like Adani Green, Adani Power etc are also up 7% and 4% respectively in this period,” it read.  

It quoted Sanjay Asher, senior partner with Crawford Bayley & Co, who said the matter is sealed now and no further steps are to be taken. “He further added that the expected closure will augure well for the group by bringing in more foreign investors”.  

Asher was also part of a panel discussion moderated by NDTV India’s Vikas Bhadauria. The panel featured one NDTV India journalist, one NDTV Profit journalist, DU professor Sangit Ragi, and Yatish Rajawat, founder and CEO of Delhi-based thinktank CIPP.

“The ill intentions were too clear in the matter. The case filed against Adani had nothing to do with the US,” Bhadauria said while posing a question for Asher.

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