Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran is preparing to file a $2.5 billion damages claim, alongside new evidence in a US court that he says disproves GLAS Trust’s allegations that $533 million in ‘Alpha Funds’ was diverted by the company’s founders.
Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff
A US bankruptcy court had, in a default ruling last week, ordered Raveendran to pay more than $1 billion, saying the former corporate star, who set up the eponymous Indian edtech and tutoring company, had refused to cooperate with legal efforts to locate almost half the proceeds from a $1.2 billion US term loan made in 2021.
Raveendran, however, contests the grounds, saying the court did not give him the 30 days he had sought to arrange a US attorney to argue the case.
He vowed to appeal against the order and, in parallel, will bring a $2.5 billion damage suit against GLAS Trust and those assisting it in a separate US court.
He says the entire $533 million is fully accounted for, with the majority, $479.62 million, being routed from OCI – the loan arranger – to Revere Capital and then to Byju’s entities and finally to Think & Learn Pvt Ltd (TLPL) – the parent company.
TLPL used the money to pay for the $3 billion acquisitions, including Aakash Educational Services, in that year.
This money trail, he says, has been established in documents GLAS Trust served on Byju’s for the legal proceedings in the US court.
In a statement, Raveendran said he has also submitted a motion in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, seeking correction of what he calls a premature damages determination.
He argues that the court mistakenly included a damages award as part of a sanction order for delayed document production, even though GLAS Trust withdrew its request for a damages ruling in September and no liability was decided on the merits.
According to Byju’s, information available to GLAS Trust since 2025 shows the Alpha Funds were routed through intermediary entities and invested in TLPL, contradicting the lender’s statement that it did not know where the money went.
An email sent to GLAS remained unanswered.
The new evidence includes bank records, email correspondence, and transfer trails that the statement says were obtained in US proceedings but not fully disclosed.
He maintained that the US loan proceeds were invested in the company in compliance with Indian law and were not siphoned for personal benefit.
He will submit “clinching evidence before the US Courts, proving that GLAS Trust and the Resolution Professional (now managing BYJU’s) repeatedly misled the Delaware Court, Indian & other Courts, and the public by falsely alleging that $533 million (Alpha Funds) was diverted by the founders”.
The evidence will be submitted as part of a full appeal against the entire order of the Delaware Insolvency Court of November 20, 2025, and as part of the claim to be filed against relevant parties previously announced with a value of over $2.5 billion.
Byju’s founders have claimed that a review of information in the possession of GLAS Trust since at least April 2025 indicates that the monies lent to Alpha (and sent by OCI to companies owned by Byju Raveendran) were indeed invested in TLPL, as has been claimed by Raveendran all along.
BYJU’s Alpha was incorporated when Raveendran was running the management of edtech firm TLPL, which operated under the BYJU’s brand name.
TLPL had secured around $1.16 billion Term Loan B from the lenders.
The lenders later alleged that BYJU’s Alpha has violated the terms of the loan, and $533 million out of the total debt has been moved out of the US illegitimately.
The Glas Trust moved to the Delaware court and received a favourable order to take control of Byju’s Alpha.
Last week, the Delaware Bankruptcy Court issued a default judgment in which it asked Byju Raveendran to pay $533 million and an additional amount of over $540 million, comprising various transactions Byju’s Alpha had carried out from the fund, and damages, among others.
Byju’s founders, in the statement, said the court appears to have inadvertently included a damages award when determining to sanction Byju Raveendran in its default judgment rendered merely as a sanction for failing to provide documents and information on an expedited basis.
“The Court determined no liability on the merits of any of the claims of GLAS Trust and Byju Raveendran provided no defence against those claims,” the statement said.
According to the statement, Byju’s founders, led by Byju Raveendran, are submitting new evidence in US courts to challenge GLAS Trust’s claims that $533 million was diverted by them, and the same evidence will also be shared with Indian courts.
Raveendran has separately filed a motion in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court to correct the Court’s premature damages judgment.
According to the statement, the evidence obtained by Byju Raveendran and his counsel proves that the $533 million (Alpha Funds) went from Byju’s Alpha to TLPL through intermediary entities.
It claims that GLAS and the RP had full visibility into this structure, routing, and bank transfers, which directly contradicts GLAS’s sworn statements that it “does not know” where the money went.
The statement claims that the evidence demonstrates that TLPL properly guaranteed the Byju’s Alpha loan, and the monies were used for the benefit of the Think & Learn Group & were not ‘siphoned off’ to the founders.
Raveendran has said that for two years, GLAS Trust has attacked his integrity and the other founders by repeating a story they knew was false.
He said that the funds were used for the benefit of TLPL and for its expansion.
“It is simply outrageous that I have been attacked in this manner and, more importantly, that BYJU’s customers and employees have been impacted by this attack based on the pure greed of these Lenders and GLAS Trust.
“These parties will now be brought before the courts and be required to answer some very tough questions,” Raveendran said.
A litigation advisor for Byju Raveendran alleged that since early June of this year, the Delaware Court has been advised that GLAS Trust was misleading the Court in its submissions by claiming that it did not know how the Alpha Loan proceeds were used.
“These same allegations have been made by the RP of Think & Learn in Court submissions in India.
“The RP refused to provide information to Byju Raveendran that was requested by Byju Raveendran as ordered by the Delaware Court.
“GLAS Trust & Alpha did not inform the Delaware Court that the alleged ‘missing’ funds were not missing at all but instead were used by Alpha and Think & Learn through an investment in shares of Think & Learn,” the advisor said.
