Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani’s net worth saw a drop of $6 billion on Wednesday after a US investment firm accused him of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”.
Adani, 60, is the world’s third-richest person with an estimated net worth of around $120 billion and interests ranging from Australian coal mines to India’s busiest ports.
But the magnate was the biggest loser on Forbes’ real-time billionaires list on Wednesday, plunging nearly five percent of his net worth – or $6.4 billion – overnight, as investors rushed to sell shares in his group of companies.
Hindenburg Research on Tuesday published a report alleging that the Adani group “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades”.
The firm said it had taken short positions in Adani group companies after a two-year investigation based on interviews with former executives, site visits in several countries and review of documents.