The lawyers and judges involved in United States' case against Adani

On November 20, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) along with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced their decision to pursue criminal and civil trial against Adani Group supremo Gautam Adani and seven others over allegations of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions. .Both the cases have been filed in Eastern District Court of New York..Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vineet Jain have been charged with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. The indictment also names former executives of Azure Power Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, along with former employees of a Canadian investment firm Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, on bribery charges. It has been alleged that the bribery scheme was tied to one of the world’s largest solar energy projects..Gautam Adani, others promised bribes worth ₹2,000 crore to Indian discoms: US govt indictment.While details of who is representing Gautam Adani are not known yet, we reveal the lawyers representing the other defendants in this case..New York-based law firm Hecker Fink is representing Sagar Adani through its partners Sean Hecker and David Gopstein. Hecker specialises in white-collar criminal defense, government and internal investigations, complex civil litigation and regulatory compliance. Gopstein has represented senior executives, companies and Boards of Directors in criminal and civil enforcement cases including white-collar defence. .Vineet Jain is represented by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (WLRK) through its partners Ralph Levene and Sarah Eddy. WLRK is a New York- based law firm founded in 1965. Levene specialises in defending clients in complex white-collar criminal and regulatory matters, while Sarah Eddy focuses on representing organisations and individuals in regulatory, criminal, and civil matters..Global law firm Steptoe will represent Rupesh Agarwal through its partners Iris Bennett and Patrick Linehan. The firm specialises in white-collar defence, complex litigation, patent and technology litigation, international corporate compliance and regulatory matters. Bennett has experience leading cross-border investigations involving over 25 countries, and counseling clients on the investigation, defence and resolution of white-collar matters. Linehan specialises in representing corporate and individual clients in internal investigations, criminal investigations/trials and civil litigation..Brown Rudnick will represent Cyril Cabanes through its partners Stephen Best and Rachel Wolkinson. Brown Rudnick is a New York-based law firm dating back to the mid-20th century. Best is the chair of Brown Rudnick's White Collar Defense, Investigations & Compliance Practice Group, which also includes Wolkinson..Saurabh Agarwal is represented by Debevoise & Plimpton through its partner Winston Paes. Paes advises clients on complex white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement, internal investigations and civil litigation matters..Deepak Malhotra is represented by White & Case through its partners Michael Kendall and Aditya Singh. Michael Kendall is a white-collar defence attorney who has also served in the US DOJ. Singh is a 2011 graduate of NALSAR University of Law and has an LL.M. from Yale Law School. He is triple-qualified to practise law in India, England & Wales and New York and is experienced in conducting and coordinating government and internal investigations involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act..Who are the judges handling the indictment?.The indictment was filed before Senior Judge Nicholas George Garaufis and Magistrate Judge James R Cho. .Magistrates handle the initial stages of criminal cases, conduct preliminary hearings, issue warrants, set bail and accept guilty pleas for minor offences. Senior judges oversee more serious criminal cases. Indictments for such cases are filed before them due to their experience and authority. They conduct trials, impose sentences and make significant legal decisions. Whether the same judge handles a case from indictment to trial depends on factors like jurisdiction-specific rules, case severity and judicial workload..Garaufis has served as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York since his nomination by President Bill Clinton on February, 2000. His nomination was confirmed unanimously by the Senate in May 2000. After 14 years of active service, Garaufis became a Senior Judge.He has handled several high-profile cases, including a landmark ruling to address discriminatory hiring practices in the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). In 2011, he mandated a court-appointed probe to oversee efforts to improve diversity in the FDNY's recruitment processes. In 2018, he issued a nationwide injunction preventing the cancellation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA is a US immigration policy established in 2012 by the Obama administration. It provides temporary protection from deportation and work authorisation to certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children..Cho, a former Assistant US Attorney, was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York in 2021. This was a historic appointment as he is the first Korean-American to serve on the Eastern District bench.Cho has served in the Civil Division of DOJ for over 12 years and handled complex cases, including civil enforcement lawsuits and defending government actions.