Adani Group: How the World's 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling the Largest Con
Hindenburg Research · 2023
"Hindenburg's claim: the Adani Group engaged in stock manipulation and accounting fraud over decades. Adani denied it, and India's market regulator dismissed key allegations in 2025."
In 2023, Hindenburg Research published a report accusing India's Adani Group of a decades-long scheme of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. Adani rejected the claims as baseless. The report still wiped more than $100 billion off the group's market value within weeks — and in September 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India dismissed the allegations it had investigated over related-party transactions.
The report alleged that a network of offshore entities in Mauritius, the UAE and the Caribbean was connected to the Adani family and was used to trade in Adani's own listed shares — which, if true, would have shrunk the real public float and propped up valuations, and let inflated shares serve as collateral for borrowing. Adani disputed every element. The case is a lesson in how a short report works: it can move a market enormously on the strength of its argument, long before — or regardless of whether — regulators agree with it.
What was the central mechanism alleged in Hindenburg's report on the Adani Group?
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Enron Short Thesis
"Enron's returns didn't cover its cost of capital and its accounting was opaque; the equity was worthless."