Byju's founders sued in US over $533 million transfer

BENGALURU: Byju's Alpha, a US-based financing arm of the edtech firm, said on Thursday that it filed a lawsuit in a US court against its co-founders Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, and former chief strategy officer and senior executive Anita Kishore. The complaint accuses them of engineering a fraudulent scheme to transfer $533 million in loan proceeds - referred to as the "Alpha Funds" - out of the company without receiving any value in return.

In a statement issued to TOI, Raveendran denied the allegations, calling them "completely baseless and untrue". He said, "This lawsuit is a part of Glas' conspiracy to wrestle control of Byju's through all possible nefarious means. It is nothing but another cog in the wheel of lies that Glas, the illegal representative of disqualified lenders in the US, has been rotating for a long time now." Glas Trust is the trustee for lenders to which Byju's owes $1.2 billion.

Raveendran added that a signed and verified affidavit submitted to the Delaware court outlined the use of the entire $1.2 billion loan "to the last dollar," and alleged the affidavit was "conveniently ignored" by Glas. He also alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) involving individuals associated with the lenders, including "Vishal Chanani of Redwood, Dan Ornstein of HG Vora, and Irena Goldstein of Glas," in connection with an alleged bribery scheme involving an Indian court official. Raveendran stated that Glas is "already under investigation in a criminal case in India."

According to the recent court filing reviewed by TOI, Byju's Alpha alleged that the three defendants participated in a "lawless scheme" to divert Alpha Funds from the debtor entity into other group affiliates after the company defaulted on a $1.2 billion term loan in 2022. The filing alleged that Raveendran, acting as the "self-appointed CEO" of Byju's Alpha, transferred the company's limited partnership interest in Camshaft Capital Fund-valued at over $540 million-to a non-guarantor affiliate, Inspilearn, on March 31, 2023, for zero consideration.

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