NBC: DOJ Fires Prosecutor From Dropped Adani Case

NBC: DOJ Fires Prosecutor From Dropped Adani Case

Exterior of a United States Courthouse building
A United States Courthouse, where the dismissed fraud case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani was filed before a prosecutor was fired by the Trump administration.Illustration: The Frank

The News

A federal prosecutor who worked the now-dead fraud case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been fired by the Trump administration, NBC News reported Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the firing.

NBC News reported the prosecutor was with the Justice Department's Fraud Section in Washington and was one of two lawyers who asked to withdraw from the Adani case two days after a senior department official moved to dismiss it in May.

The Frank is not naming the prosecutor, who is unnamed in NBC's reporting and did not immediately respond to that outlet's request for comment. This account rests on a single news organization and two anonymous sources.

What Is Sourced Here

The firing itself comes only from NBC News and its two unnamed sources. The underlying case history — the indictment, the dismissal motion and the judge's rulings — is on the public record.

Timeline

November 2024

Adani is charged in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud U.S. investors and pay off Indian government officials to win a bid to develop India's largest solar power plant, according to the Justice Department. He called the accusations baseless.

May 2026

Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter moves to dismiss the case against Adani. Two days later, two prosecutors ask to withdraw, NBC News reported.

May 2026

An email from U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella references a slide deck from Adani's defense team that included a proposal to invest $10 billion in the United States. Nocella wrote that the proposal was "categorically rejected" by his office.

July 2026

Adani says in a sworn statement that he was "not aware of any agreement involving any person or entity exchanging anything for the dismissal of the indictment."

2026

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York agrees to toss the case, while criticizing the Trump administration's "highly unusual" conduct.

A month after that dismissal

The prosecutor is fired, the people familiar with it told NBC News.

Last week

Garaufis lets some counts stand against some of Adani's co-defendants, saying the administration had "not provided sufficient factual information to support the stated reasons" for dismissing the charges.

Reactions

A spokesman for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment to NBC News. An attorney for Adani could not be reached by NBC News about the firing.

McCotter has defended dropping the case, calling it "indefensible" and saying he "would have sought dismissal of the securities charges regardless of any mentions of investments, regardless of whether the civil case (or any other matter) was settled or otherwise resolved."

Democratic lawmakers had questioned whether there was a quid pro quo between Adani — who pledged to invest billions of dollars in the United States — and the administration. Adani denied it, and so did the Justice Department.

Garaufis, in dismissing the case, called the administration's conduct "highly unusual."

What's Next

The counts Garaufis left standing against Adani's co-defendants keep the Eastern District case alive in part, and the judge has already said the administration's stated reasons for dismissal fell short.

The Justice Department has offered no explanation for the firing. NBC News reported the administration has fired numerous federal employees without explanation beyond citing the president's executive powers in letters that department alumni call "Article II letters," after the constitutional clause.

More

Adani is chairman of the Adani Group. The November 2024 indictment named him and seven other senior business executives, according to the Justice Department.

The judge hearing the case had ordered Adani to explain whether any deal was made in connection with the government's reversal. He said there was none.

Poll

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