Adani Pays $275M to Settle US Investigation Into Iranian LPG Imports

The agreement concludes all federal enforcement actions facing owner Gautam Adani and his conglomerate

The LPG terminal at Mundra Port, bottom center, and LPG receiving pier, upper right (Google Maps / Airbus)

The U.S. Treasury has reached an agreement with a powerful Indian business conglomerate, Adani Enterprises Limited, to settle allegations of sanctions evasion and covert importation of Iranian LPG into Mundra Port. The settlement releases AEL from any finding of fault or criminal liability in exchange for a payment of $275 million.

Last year, the Wall Street Journal published an investigation into the movements of LPG carriers operating between the Arabian Gulf and Mundra Port, where AEL operates an LPG terminal. The vessels had already attracted the attention of U.S. prosecutors, and the WSJ found common telltales of illicit activity - particularly AIS position manipulation, apparently designed to disguise port calls in Iran as "calls" in Iraq. Customs documents appeared to confirm that AEL had imported cargoes that matched these questionable shipments.

In response to the WSJ, AEL denied any "deliberate engagement" to avoid sanctions or to conduct illegal trade in Iranian-origin petroleum products. However, in a settlement agreement released Monday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said that AEL had imported Iranian-origin LPG from November 2023 through June 2025. A third-party broker had disguised the shipments as Omani and Iraqi gas, with documentation to match, but Treasury determined that "red flags should have put AEL on notice that the LPG actually originated from Iran."

When the arrangement began, AEL was still new to the LPG trade, and it was looking for discounted cargoes to gain a foothold. A Dubai-based trading company offered to supply "Omani" LPG to AEL at a favorable price, and the deal passed AEL's internal compliance checks. The brokerage was not sanctioned directly, and presented itself as a "reputable middleman" - though one of its affiliates had recently been listed by OFAC for buying Iranian LPG, an event which AEL does not appear to have detected. In all, AEL went on to buy a total of 35 LPG cargoes from the brokerage.

AEL received four different third-party warnings about possible ties between these shipments and Iran, Treasury said, but continued to import the gas and to rely on the broker's documentation for compliance purposes. Among other red flags, one LPG shipment purported to arrive from the Omani port of Sohar, which did not have a loading terminal for fully refrigerated propane at the time. The offering prices were also too low to be realistic for compliant-market cargoes, OFAC found.

AEL did not admit fault, but in the settlement, it agreed that it "recognizes the seriousness of apparent violations." It will cooperate with OFAC and retain a compliance program across its entire enterprise for at least five years.

Adani Group is run by Gautam Adani, the wealthiest person in India and the second-wealthiest person in Asia. Adani has close ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and his conglomerate's influence extends throughout the Indian economy.

In addition to the Iranian-LPG case, Mr. Adani was facing separate U.S. federal fraud charges in connection with alleged bribery payments made to Indian officials to facilitate a solar-power project; those charges have now been dropped by the Justice Department, the BBC reported early Tuesday. Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to settle a separate securities-fraud suit against Mr. Adani and one of his relatives for $18 million. With Monday's announcement of the settlement of the U.S. Treasury investigation into Iranian LPG shipments, Adani has concluded all three of the pending U.S. government enforcement actions facing his business.

According to the New York Times, Mr. Adani recently retained the services of one of President Donald Trump's personal lawyers, Robert J. Giuffra Jr. of Sullivan & Cromwell. Giuffra met with Justice Department officials last month and conveyed an offer from Mr. Adani to invest $10 billion in the U.S. economy and create 15,000 American jobs if enforcement actions against him were dropped, sources familiar with the meeting told the Times.