US Court Orders Byju’s Director to Pay $10,000 Daily in Hunt for Missing $533 Million

A suspended executive at Byju’s, the embattled Indian ed-tech giant, has been ordered to pay $10,000 a day unless he helps trace $533 million that was embezzled, a judge ruled on Wednesday. The company is accused of hiding from US lenders.Riju Ravindran, the brother of Byju’s founder, is entangled in a nearly two-year legal battle concerning the missing funds, which lenders claim should have been returned after the company defaulted on its loan obligations.

Ravindran was recently removed as one of the three directors of Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd.—the parent company of Byju’s—by a court-appointed trustee amid an involuntary bankruptcy case in India, now faces sanctions imposed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon. This action follows the lenders’ efforts to recover the substantial sum they allege has been improperly withheld.

Judge Shannon also denied Ravindran’s request to pause the U.S. legal proceedings so that he and Byju’s could secure new legal representation. The current American attorneys representing Ravindran and Byju’s entities have expressed their desire to withdraw from the case, citing an “irreparable breakdown” in their relationship with the clients.

Despite this, the judge ruled that Ravindran’s legal team must continue their representation until at least the next hearing, scheduled for next month, when all parties will reconvene in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. This court has been a key battleground in the ongoing conflict.

This latest development adds another chapter to the extraordinary saga of Byju’s, a company that was once celebrated as a shining example of India’s booming tech sector. Within 18 months of securing a $1.2 billion loan from U.S. lenders in 2022, Byju’s failed to meet critical financial reporting deadlines, faced raids by Indian regulators, and was accused by American lenders of defaulting on its debt.

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The controversy centers on allegations that Byju’s fraudulently moved $533 million from a U.S.-based shell company, Byju’s Alpha Inc., which had been established to service the debt. The lenders, who have since taken control of Byju’s Alpha, contend that the funds should be returned. Byju’s, on the other hand, claims that it is being unfairly targeted by aggressive lenders.

The missing money remains at the core of the dispute between the lenders and the startup, which was founded by entrepreneur Byju Raveendran. The ongoing U.S. bankruptcy case, BYJU’s Alpha Inc., 24-10140, is being heard in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington.