Boris Epshteyn Allegedly Joined Adani Defense Effort as DOJ Dropped $250M Bribery Case

Boris Epshteyn, President Trump's personal attorney and de facto legal coordinator, was described by seven sources as having joined the defense effort of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani — whose sprawling energy-and-logistics empire faced a 2024 federal indictment alleging a $250 million bribery scheme. The allegation places Epshteyn, who holds no official government role, at the center of one of the most consequential DOJ reversals of the Trump second term. Epshteyn, Adani Group, and Sullivan & Cromwell all flatly deny any relationship existed between them.

The original October 2024 indictment, filed in Brooklyn federal court, accused Gautam Adani and seven co-defendants of conspiring to pay bribes to Indian state officials to secure solar-power contracts, then concealing the scheme from U.S. investors as Adani Green Energy raised money through bond offerings. Early in 2025, DOJ officials in Washington gave the green light to proceed with prosecution, brushing aside initial arguments from a battery of firms including Wachtell Lipton, Quinn Emanuel, and Kirkland & Ellis. The plot shifted after Sullivan & Cromwell — a white-shoe firm that also represents Trump personally through co-chairman Robert Giuffra — took over the Adani matter last July. After two presentations to senior DOJ officials in February and April, the department made the highly unusual move of asking a judge on May 18 to dismiss all charges. Strikingly, none of the line prosecutors who built the case signed the dismissal motion — a pointed signal of internal dissent.

Epshteyn's fingerprints appear throughout the institutional architecture of the decision, even if his name appeared on no legal papers. He reportedly helped place Trent McCotter — the principal associate deputy attorney general who had final authority over the Adani dismissal — into his DOJ role. Epshteyn also championed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Epshteyn's own criminal-defense lawyer before being brought into Trump's orbit. DOJ says McCotter's decision was made purely on the merits and that Epshteyn played no role in his hiring or in the Adani matter. Separately, Epshteyn had pushed to oust former Attorney General Pam Bondi for being insufficiently aggressive against Trump's political enemies.

Epshteyn's broader influence operation is considerable. His advisory firm collects $50,000 a month from the Never Surrender Trump leadership PAC — over $600,000 last year — for legal and communications consulting. He has reportedly offered to help outside clients resolve matters before the Trump administration in exchange for monthly retainers as high as six figures. He is a constant physical presence around Trump: he was spotted just behind the president at last week's NBA Finals, and Trump reportedly jokes about his incessant calls by holding up his phone and saying, 'It's Boris again.' Meanwhile, the Adani family explored donating to Trump's White House ballroom renovation or future presidential library, according to one source. Adani had also pledged $10 billion in U.S. investment and 15,000 jobs in a congratulatory post to Trump the day before his indictment was unsealed in November 2024.

The case was resolved through a patchwork of civil settlements: Adani and his nephew agreed to pay $18 million to the SEC without admitting wrongdoing, and Adani Enterprises agreed to pay $275 million to the Treasury Department to settle a separate sanctions violation involving liquefied petroleum gas purchases from Iran. The criminal charges, however, remain pending a judge's approval of the DOJ dismissal motion. Georgetown law professor and former federal prosecutor Paul Butler called the DOJ's retreat extraordinary, noting that charges are rarely dropped after indictment because prosecutors must already believe they can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.