US court orders Byju Raveendran to pay over $1 billion, firm to appeal

New Delhi: A US bankruptcy court has ordered Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran to pay over $1.07 billion, holding him personally liable for the movement and concealment of funds from Byju’s Alpha, the company’s US-based financing arm.

The default judgment, issued by Judge Brendan Shannon of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, follows Raveendran’s repeated failure to comply with directions to appear before the court and provide documents, according to multiple media reports.

A default judgment is a ruling issued when a party does not participate in the litigation or ignores court orders, allowing the court to decide the case without a trial.

Meanwhile, Byju Raveendran denied all allegations and informed that he will appeal the US court judgment. Raveendra said that the US Court default judgement was issued on an expedited basis and precluded him from presenting a defence.

“The Court, in our view, ignored relevant facts. Byju Raveendran must be allowed to present a defence and has been denied the right to do so by expediting the trial,” the statement said.

“The Delaware Court Judgement also does not address the fact that GLAS Trust has been aware that the monies from the Alpha loans were not used by Byju Raveendran or any Founder of BYJU’s for their personal gain but were used for the benefit of Think & Learn Private Limited (TLPL),” it added.

Byju’s Alpha, incorporated in Delaware in 2021, was established as a special-purpose vehicle to manage a $1.2 billion term loan from a consortium of global lenders.

The subsidiary had no operating business and functioned primarily as a holding entity for the loan proceeds. However, $533 million was transferred from Alpha to Camshaft Capital, a small hedge fund in Miami, and later moved through affiliated entities such as Inspilearn and later to an offshore trust, without any consideration returning to Byju’s Alpha, court filings showed.