A US bankruptcy court judge has imposed financial penalties on Riju Ravindran, a director at Byju’s, India’s leading edtech startup, after concluding that his testimony in court regarding the whereabouts of over $500 million was “not truthful”.
Judge John Dorsey of the Delaware bankruptcy court was hearing arguments in the ongoing case involving Byju’s subsidiary Think & Learn Pvt Ltd and its lenders. Think & Learn had taken on over $1.2 billion in debt last year, and lenders have now seized control of the company over non-payment.
During the latest hearing, Judge Dorsey grilled Ravindran, who is the brother of Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran, to reveal where approximately $533 million sought by lenders had gone. However, according to the judge, Ravindran failed to disclose the location of the missing funds.
In his remarks, Judge Dorsey said Ravindran’s testimony was “not truthful” and that he either knows where the money is being hidden but refused to reveal it, or failed to find out where the large sum had gone. The quantum of financial penalties imposed on Ravindran will be determined at a future date.
Earlier, the judge had also ordered the arrest of a hedge fund manager allegedly involved in moving the cash overseas, but issued no warrant against Ravindran since he is an Indian citizen currently residing in Dubai which has no extradition treaty with the US.
The developments come amidst Byju’s severe cash crunch and huge losses. The once high-flying startup’s valuation has fallen below $1 billion and certain investors are pushing to remove the founder and his family from the company’s leadership.
