NEW YORK — The top federal prosecutor overseeing the Brooklyn district says he has no grounds to challenge the Justice Department’s move to abandon its criminal case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, though he stopped short of saying whether he personally agreed with the decision.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. addressed the matter in a letter sent Friday to the federal judge handling the case. In it, he acknowledged that he was “not the decisionmaker” when it came to dropping the charges, and said he had no reason to believe that the justification offered by his supervisor — top Justice Department official Trent McCotter — did not reflect the “real grounds” for dismissal.
The letter came in response to a direct request from U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who had asked Nocella to state whether he agreed or disagreed with McCotter’s reasoning for scrapping the Adani case, and whether any other factors supported the dismissal.
The case against Adani had involved allegations of fraud and bribery. Nocella’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
