Gautam Adani bribery charges: Two officials of Indian-origin, Sanjay Wadhwa and Tejal Shah, are spearheading the investigation against Gautam Adani and others in the bribery case. Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and other executives have been charged by US prosecutors for being part of a bribery scheme of paying Indian officials Rs 2,100 crore in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.
One of the key officials in the probe is Sanjay Wadhwa, who is the Acting Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Division of Enforcement. The other official is Tejal D Shah, who is supervising the SEC’s ongoing investigation.
SANJAY WADHWA
Wadhwa had said in a statement that the commission would ‘continue to vigorously pursue and hold individuals, including senior corporate officers and directors, accountable’ for violating their securities law. “As alleged, Gautam and Sagar Adani induced US investors to buy Adani Green bonds through an offering process that misrepresented not only that Adani Green had a robust anti-bribery compliance program but also that the company’s senior management had not and would not pay or promise to pay bribes, and Cyril Cabanes participated in the underlying bribery scheme while serving as director of a US public company,” said Wadhwa.
Wadhwa, a Bachelor of Business Administration graduate from Florida Atlantic University, also has a LLM in Taxation from New York University School of Law. He also has a degree from Texas South College of Law Houston.
After completing his LLM, Wadhwa joined Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP as Tax Associate in 1996. He then moved to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates as a Tax Associate in 2000.
He joined the US SEC as Staff Attorney in the enforcement division in 2003, and moved on to hold numerous posts including Branch Chief, Assistant Director, Deputy Chief of Market Abuse Unit, Associate Director and then Senior Associate Director of the New York Regional Office. After this, he was appointed Deputy Director of the enforcement division in 2021, and then Acting Director in 2024 in October this year.
TEJAL D SHAH
Meanwhile, the SEC’s probe into Adani Green is being conducted by Nicholas Karasimas, Stewart Gilson, Christopher M Colorado, and Alison Conn from the New York Regional Office.
The probe is being supervised by Tejal D Shah, who is the Associate Regional Director, SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
Shah has a degree in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University, after which she pursued Law from New York University.
She joined Cooley LLP as an Associate in 2006. Shah then moved to the SEC in 2014 as a Senior Counsel in the Division of Enforcement, after which she held other posts in the unit. She was Enforcement Counsel to the Chair from May-August 2021, after which she was appointed Senior Special Counsel to the Enforcement Director. She was then appointed Associate Regional Director in January 2023, a post she currently holds.