Byju Raveendran to file $2.5 billion damages claim against GLAS Trust’s fund diversion allegations — Details here

Byju Raveendran, founder of edtech platform Byju, is preparing to file a $2.5 billion lawsuit against GLAS Trust and also says the company will submit new evidence to courts in the US to counter allegations that $533 million was transferred from American funding agency Byju’s Alpha.

This development comes less than a week after the Delaware bankruptcy ordered Byju Raveendran to pay more than $1.07 billion in default judgment.

In its ruling last week, the US court said Byju’s founders had refused to cooperate with legal efforts to find almost half of the proceeds from a $1.2 billion US term loan issued in 2021.

What did Byju Raveendran say?

Byju Raveendran objected to the grounds on which the order was based. He said the Delaware court did not give him enough time to arrange for an attorney to appeal the case. The founder of the online tutor platform had earlier requested 30 days for this.

In addition to appealing the decision, he vowed to file a parallel $2.5 billion lawsuit in another U.S. court against the GLAS Trust and the entities that helped it.

He claimed that the entire amount of money in question ($533 million) had been accounted for. The bulk of the amount ($479.62 million) was transferred from credit manager OCI to Revere Capital. It was later transferred to Byju’s entities and finally to the parent company Think & Learn Pvt Ltd (TLPL).

That year, TLPL used the money for $3 billion in acquisitions, including Aakash Educational Services.

Byju Raveendran also argued that the documents submitted by GLAS Trust during legal proceedings constituted a money trail. In his statement, he said that he also filed a request with the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, requesting that the so-called early compensation determination be corrected.

He argues that the court erroneously awarded damages as part of the sanction order for the delay in producing documents, even though the GLAS Trust withdrew its request for a damages order in September and no liability decision was made on the merits.

“The court determined no liability on the merits of GLAS Trust’s claims and Byju Raveendran offered no defense to these claims,” ​​the statement said.

“It is truly outrageous that I have been attacked in this way and more importantly that BYJU’s customers and employees have been affected by this attack based on the pure greed of these Lenders and GLAS Trust. These parties will now be brought before the courts and will have to answer some very tough questions,” Raveendran said.

What is the evidence? Will they be offered to India?

Byju’s said the evidence it plans to present includes bank records, email correspondence and transfer records obtained from transactions in the United States but not fully disclosed.

“Before the US Courts, GLAS Trust and Resolution Professional (which currently manages BYJUs) will present conclusive evidence proving that they repeatedly misled the Delaware Court, Indian and other Courts, and the public with false claims that $533 million (Alpha Funds) was diverted by the founders,” Raveendran said.

Byju Raveendran’s litigation counsel claimed that the Delaware Court had been informed since early June this year that GLAS Trust had misled the Court in its representations by claiming that it did not know how the Alpha Loan proceeds were being used.

“The same allegations were also made by the RP of Think & Learn Court submissions in India. The RP refused to provide Byju Raveendran with the information requested by Byju Raveendran as directed by the Delaware Court,” the counsel said.

“GLAS Trust & Alpha failed to inform the Delaware Court that the alleged ‘missing’ funds were not missing in any way, but rather were used by Alpha and Think & Learn through an investment in Think & Learn shares,” the counsel added.

Raveendran also said GLAS Trust had attacked his and other founders’ integrity by repeating a story they knew was false for two years.