Talks are underway between billionaire Gautam Adani’s legal team and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the manner in which legal summons will be served, according to a filing made before a federal court in New York.

The development comes just two days after the SEC sought court permission to serve the summons electronically, citing prolonged resistance from Indian authorities.

In a short letter submitted on Friday (January 23) to the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Robert J. Giuffra Jr of Sullivan & Cromwell told the court that discussions are ongoing between the defendants and the SEC to reach a mutually agreed procedure for service. Giuffra was writing on behalf of Gautam Adani, with the consent of co-defendant Sagar Adani.

“Counsel for Defendants and the SEC are discussing a stipulation regarding the SEC’s Motion,” Giuffra wrote.

The defendants have asked the court to temporarily hold off on ruling on the SEC’s request while the parties attempt to finalise the “stipulation”, which would outline an agreed course of action.

The SEC, in a motion filed on January 21, had detailed repeated and unsuccessful attempts to serve summons on Gautam and Sagar Adani since February 2025 under the Hague Convention, the international framework governing cross-border legal service. Under the convention, India’s Ministry of Law and Justice acts as the designated authority.

According to the SEC, those efforts were repeatedly obstructed. In April 2025, the ministry rejected the request, citing the absence of certain seals and signatures.

The SEC has argued that such formalities are not mandated under the Hague Convention and have not been required in previous cases involving service in India.

When the agency resubmitted the request in May 2025 with clarifications, the ministry allegedly did not respond for several months, despite follow-up communications.

In December 2025, the ministry raised a fresh objection, referring to an internal SEC regulation and suggesting that the regulator lacked authority to invoke the Hague Convention in the case—an argument the SEC described as “baseless”.

As a result, the SEC asked the court to allow alternative modes of service, including through the Adanis’ US-based law firms and by email to their corporate addresses.

“Given the Ministry’s position, and the time elapsed since service was first attempted pursuant to the Hague Convention, the SEC does not expect service to be completed through the Hague Convention,” the agency told the court.

The SEC had filed civil fraud charges against Gautam and Sagar Adani on November 20, 2024, accusing them of orchestrating a bribery scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly paid to Indian government officials.

The case centres on a September 2021 bond offering by Adani Green Energy, which raised more than $175 million from US investors. The regulator claims the offering documents contained misleading statements regarding the company’s anti-corruption safeguards.

The Adani Group has denied the allegations, calling them “baseless” and stating that it would pursue all available legal remedies.

On the same day the SEC filed its civil case, US federal prosecutors also brought parallel criminal charges, including securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and securities fraud.