$533 million 'roundtripped' to Byju Raveendran, affiliates: US court filing

Founder, other affiliates reject allegations made in the Delaware court

Most of the $533 million missing from Byju’s Alpha was “round-tripped” to founder Byju Raveendran and his affiliates, according to a recent filing at a Delaware bankruptcy court.

 

The allegation contests earlier sworn statements that the money was used for “legitimate corporate needs”. 

 

The allegation, made by plaintiff and debtor Byju’s Alpha, along with intervener-plaintiff GLAS Trust Company in a court submission, is tied to a settlement with OCI Ltd, a United Kingdom-based procurement firm that reportedly received the bulk of the disputed funds.

 

Byju’s Alpha, the Delaware special purpose financing vehicle that received the Term Loan B proceeds and is now controlled by the lenders, has sued OCI Ltd and its former representative Rupin Banker in Delaware as part of efforts to recover the $533 million.

 

As part of the settlement, OCI’s founder, Oliver Chapman, submitted a sworn declaration that the filing said “itemises down to the cent” how the Alpha funds were handled after OCI received them.

 

The filing alleges that Chapman’s review shows that the funds were routed (via a series of transfers) to a Singapore corporate vehicle identified in the papers as Byju’s Global Pte Ltd, which, it says, is owned by Raveendran. 

 

The filing has alleged that Chapman’s declaration demonstrates that Byju Raveendran’s plot was to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars of corporate assets for personal use. 

 

“The truth of what happened to the missing $533 million Alpha Funds has been an alarming mystery for a long time. But as part of its settlement with the Debtor, OCI, a mediate transferee of the vast majority of that money, has agreed to come forward. The truth about what happened to the vast majority of the Alpha Funds is that they were, in effect, roundtripped right back to Byju Raveendran and his affiliates,” according to the court filing, a copy of which was seen by Business Standard.

 

“For months, Byju’s enterprise, including directly via its eponymous founder, told shareholders, lenders, and the press that the Alpha Funds remained in its possession.”

 

This contradicts a sworn declaration filed by Raveendran in the fall of 2024, where he repeatedly represented that the money had been sent to OCI for “legitimate commercial purposes”, namely, to procure “services to T&L and its subsidiaries in relation to the procurement of IT equipment, such as electronic tablets, and advertising (including marketing via various media),” alleged the court filing.

 

“Raveendran’s sworn testimony has now been proven to be untrue,” it alleged.

 

“Significantly, the Debtor has come to understand that a single former OCI representative, Defendant Rupin Banker, in conjunction with Raveendran, among others (not Chapman), abused OCI to facilitate a fraud on the Debtor and its creditors.” 

 

The court said OCI’s cooperation produced information valuable to the debtor. The debtor has determined to discontinue proceedings against OCI and has no basis to pursue a claim against Chapman. 

 

Think and Learn founders strongly deny the allegations

 

On Monday, the founders of Byju’s parent, Think and Learn Private Ltd, including Raveendran, said they categorically and unequivocally rejected the allegations made in GLAS Trust’s latest filing in the Delaware proceedings.

 

“It relies heavily on a selective and incomplete declaration submitted by Oliver Chapman, founder of OCI. Chapman’s testimony is full of conjectures and selective insinuations and does not substantiate any claim of wrongdoing by the founders of Byju’s,” the founders said. “At most, his declaration reflects his limited knowledge of specific expenditures undertaken by OCI; it does not establish any diversion of funds by the founders.”

 

The founders said the facts of the matter remained unchanged: No portion of the $533 million in question has been used by founders directly or indirectly. They said the amount had been used in its entirety for the benefit of Think and Learn as evidenced in documents and bank statements.

 

“Our forthcoming filing will provide the Court with evidence rebutting each of the assertions made in the recent GLAS Trust submission,” said the founders.

 

They said GLAS Trust and the resolution professional (RP) had full access to the financial records, bank statements, and underlying documentation of Think and Learn and its United States subsidiaries. They are, therefore, fully aware of the legitimate commercial utilisation of these funds. 

 

“Despite this, they continue to place before the Court and the public only partial/selective extracts, stripped of context, in order to create a misleading and prejudicial narrative. When the full money trail is available with them, presenting only half-truths is not an accident — it is a deliberate strategy to sabotage the founders’ reputation,” said the founders. 

 

“We also confirm that preparations are at an advanced stage to initiate defamation proceedings against all individuals and entities involved in disseminating false, misleading, and defamatory statements regarding the founders.”