05:13 PM EST, 11/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Billionaire businessman Gautam S. Adani, and several other defendants mostly from India, are facing charges in a federal court in New York over fraud and bribery allegations, the US District Attorney's office said Wednesday.

Adani and the defendants have been indicted in connection with a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions, US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said.

The defendants were also accused of orchestrating "schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa H. Miller said.

The defendants, including executives of an Indian renewable energy company, allegedly agreed to pay bribes between 2020 and 2024 to secure lucrative solar energy supply contracts with the Indian government. More than $2 billion in after-tax profits were projected to be generated from the contracts over two decades, according to the press release.