BYJU’S Top Exec, Business Ally Held In Contempt Of US Court

BYJU’S Top Exec, Business Ally Held In Contempt Of US Court

SUMMARY

BYJU’s manager Vinay Ravindra and business ally Rajendran Vellapalath refused to answer questions about their roles in seizing assets from BYJU’S US-based subsidiaries — Epic! and Tangible Play

Vellapalath’s company Voizzit Information Technology was in violation of the court order after it filed a lawsuit in India to strip BYJU’S US units out of software, cash and other assets

Last year, Raveedran’s brother, Riju Ravindran was slapped with sanctions for failing to answer questions about $533 Mn of loan proceeds that his company is accused of hiding from investors

A top executive of embattled edtech firm BYJU’S and an ally of the company’s founder are facing potential fines of $25K a day after a federal judge held them in contempt for violating a US court order.

As per Moneycontrol, BYJU’s manager Vinay Ravindra and business ally Rajendran Vellapalath refused to answer questions about their roles in seizing assets from BYJU’S US-based subsidiaries — Epic! and Tangible Play.

The judge found that Vellapalath’s company Voizzit Information Technology violated the court order by filing a lawsuit in India to strip BYJU’S US units of software, cash and other assets, as they are under the supervision of a US bankruptcy court.

The matter stems from the long-running legal battle between BYJU’S and its US-based lenders owed more than $1.2 Bn. 

This is not the first time that an ally of BYJU’S founder Byju Raveendran has been found in violation of a US court order. Last year, Raveedran’s brother, Riju Ravindran was slapped with sanctions for failing to answer questions about $533 Mn of loan proceeds that his company is accused of hiding from investors.

Further, BYJU’S founder was accused last year of trying to regain control of Epic! using loan money that investors have been trying to get their hands on.

The developments come at a time when BYJU’S is facing bankruptcy proceedings in India. On Wednesday (January 29), the National Company Law Tribunal ordered the removal of the edtech giant’s resolution professional Pankaj Srivastava and called for disciplinary action against him.

The Tribunal also ordered the dissolution of the committee of creditors (CoC) formed to oversee the bankruptcy proceedings against the Byju Raveendran-led company.

The NCLT was hearing a plea filed by BYJU’S lenders US-based Glas Trust and Aditya Birla Finance, who alleged fraud in creditor classification.

A bench of justices K Biswal and Ravichandran Ramaswamy also called for the formation of a new creditors’ committee, which will comprise Glas Trust and Aditya Birla Finance.

It must be noted that the NCLT is yet to rule on the application filed by the Board of Control For Cricket in India to settle its ongoing dispute with BYJU’S.