Operation Zeppelin: Inside Adani’s Counteroffensive to Hindenburg Report
New Delhi: In a dramatic turn of events that reads like a corporate thriller, the Adani Group’s response to the damaging Hindenburg Research report was codenamed “Operation Zeppelin”, a nod to the German World War I airships. This covert and calculated counteroffensive may well go down as one of the boldest fightbacks in global business history.
In January 2023, Hindenburg Research, a forensic financial research firm known for targeting companies it suspects of fraud, published a scathing report accusing the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. The fallout was massive—Adani’s companies saw over $150 billion in market value erased, and the group’s largest public offering was abruptly canceled. For a brief moment, it looked like Gautam Adani’s vast empire might crumble.
But what followed was anything but a collapse.
Behind the scenes, a high-level, strategic response—later dubbed Operation Zeppelin—was launched. According to individuals with direct knowledge of the matter, the plan involved a blend of public relations, debt restructuring, legal action, and even alleged collaboration with Israeli intelligence operatives.
Interestingly, the timing of the Hindenburg report coincided with Adani’s visit to Israel to finalize a $1.2 billion acquisition of the strategic Haifa Port. This was Israel’s largest infrastructure privatization project in the decade, and Adani’s bid, in partnership with Gadot Group, had cleared all necessary national security vetting.
At a private meeting in Haifa shortly after the report broke, Adani was confronted by a top Israeli official regarding the allegations. Firmly denying them as “absolute lies,” Adani found an ally in Eshel Armoni, the outgoing chairman of the port and a former Mossad official. Some in Israel’s security establishment reportedly viewed the report as a possible geopolitical ploy to derail the Haifa port deal, crucial for the emerging India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor—a counterbalance to Chinese influence.
Meanwhile in India, Adani began rebuilding confidence—paying down debt, reducing pledged shares, and attracting marquee investors. But that was only the visible part of the counterstrike.
The more secretive Operation Zeppelin focused on tracking Hindenburg Research and its founder Nathan Anderson, with alleged surveillance extending to Hindenburg’s New York offices and even to a property in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. Sources suggest that encrypted communications were intercepted, revealing a web of coordination involving activist lawyers, media professionals, hedge funds, and political operatives, some allegedly linked to interests in China and Washington.
Adani was reportedly briefed about the operation in Switzerland in January 2024. He responded not with public outcry but with a calculated legal and strategic maneuvering. A tech-driven command center was established in Ahmedabad, while legal teams operated across global financial hubs.
By October 2024, the internal “Zeppelin Dossier” had grown to 353 pages, allegedly containing evidence of a coordinated campaign against the group. Leaked documents also suggested that certain U.S. media outlets and institutions may have amplified anti-Adani narratives.
However, the tables turned again in November 2024, when the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC filed charges against Adani Group officials, alleging bribery related to renewable energy contracts in India—charges the group vehemently denied.
At the same time, the Adani Group began preparing a legal case in the Southern District of New York against Hindenburg Research. A draft of a seven-page lawsuit was reportedly delivered to Anderson’s office. A meeting between Adani’s legal team and Hindenburg representatives was suggested, but its occurrence remains unconfirmed.
Then came the bombshell: on January 15, 2025, just days before the second anniversary of its report on Adani, Hindenburg Research announced its shutdown.
Whether Operation Zeppelin was an elaborate real-world corporate espionage mission or a tightly controlled counteroffensive of business diplomacy and legal maneuvering, its full scope may never be publicly known. But one thing is clear—Adani’s response to Hindenburg stands as one of the most audacious comebacks in modern corporate history.
(Inputs from PTI)
