Prosecutor Who Withdrew From Adani Bribery Case Is Fired, Prompting Retaliation Claims
WASHINGTON — Andrew Tyler, a federal prosecutor who withdrew from the Justice Department’s criminal case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, has been fired, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Tyler, an acting assistant chief in the fraud section of the Criminal Division, was removed Tuesday. Two sources said he was dismissed over allegations of ethical violations, but they did not provide details. After CBS News published its report, a source with knowledge of the matter disputed that account, saying Tyler was never accused of wrongdoing and was not given a reason for his termination. Like other department employees who have received dismissal letters, Tyler was told he was being removed under Article II of the Constitution, the source said.
That source described the firing as retaliation for Tyler’s decision to step away from the Adani case. Tyler withdrew, the source said, to meet his ethical obligations as a prosecutor, and he handled himself appropriately in all of his cases, including the Adani matter. A former colleague agreed, describing Tyler as a dedicated public servant who spent most of his career at the Justice Department.
His LinkedIn profile shows he began as an intern in the tax and criminal divisions. After a short stint as a law clerk in D.C. Superior Court, he returned to the Justice Department, rising from clerk to trial attorney and eventually assistant chief.
NBC News first reported his termination.
The move comes amid scrutiny of the Justice Department’s handling of the Adani case, which was brought at the end of the Biden administration. Adani and other executives at his renewable energy company were indicted in a broad foreign bribery and securities fraud scheme. Prosecutors alleged they paid off Indian government officials to secure lucrative solar energy supply contracts.
In May, Trent McCotter, now the acting deputy attorney general, ordered the case dismissed. The decision followed meetings between Adani’s lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell, including Bob Giuffra, and department officials. According to sources familiar with the matter and records reviewed by CBS News, Giuffra argued in one meeting that evidence of the alleged bribery scheme was disputed. One slide said one of Adani’s companies was “powering India’s progress,” while another said the Trump administration “would not have brought the case.” Giuffra also said Adani would be willing to invest $10 billion in the American economy if prosecutors dropped the charges, the sources said.
The motion to dismiss was signed only by politically appointed Justice Department officials, not by the career prosecutors on the case. Soon afterward, Tyler and a co-counsel, Shy Jackson, filed motions to withdraw — a step widely seen as a quiet protest.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York initially refused to drop the charges, saying the department had not provided an adequate factual basis. He sought more information and asked Adani to submit a sworn statement addressing whether there had been a quid pro quo. Adani denied one existed.
Last month, Garaufis agreed to dismiss the charges against Adani and several co-defendants, but he refused to drop charges against the remaining defendants. He said the Justice Department had provided “no new reasons to dismiss counts one and five, and no additional facts to support the reasons given for the requested dismissal.” The judge also accused McCotter of improperly interfering in the case, saying he had “eschewed the professional opinions of innumerable officials from various federal offices and replaced them with his singular judgment.”
Tyler is the second federal prosecutor fired this month amid disagreements with senior department officials over a high-profile criminal case. Earlier this month, the department fired Matthew Evans, a Minnesota prosecutor investigating ICE officer Christian Castro over the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant earlier this year.
Evans’s firing came shortly after ProPublica reported that he told attorneys for the man who was shot, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, and other victims to prepare for Castro to be charged only with making false statements. That would carry lesser penalties than criminal charges alleging Castro violated people’s constitutional rights under color of law. Several sources told CBS News that Evans is now under investigation.
The firings are likely to sharpen concerns among career prosecutors about political pressure inside the Justice Department, particularly in politically sensitive cases. The Adani matter has drawn unusual attention because of Adani’s global business interests and the proposed $10 billion investment, as well as the department’s broader questions about whether career lawyers are being sidelined in high-profile matters.