New Delhi: Indian entrepreneur, investor and educator Byju Raveendran is personally liable to pay back over USD 1 billion, a US court has said in a default judgement.
This order was based on a petition filed by BYJU’s Alpha and US-based lender GLAS Trust Company LLC.
The Delaware Bankruptcy Court, in its judgement dated November 20, 2025, found that Raveendran failed to comply with its discovery order and continued to be evasive on several occasion.
According to the petition, BYJU’s Alpha was incorporated when Raveendran was running the management of edtech firm Think and Learn Private Limited (TLPL), which operated under Byju’s brand name.
TLPL had allegedly secured a USD 1 billion Term Loan B from US-based lenders. The lenders later alleged that BYJU’s Alpha had violated terms of the loan and USD 533 million out of the total debt has been moved out of the US illegitimately.
The judgment directed Raveendran to provide a full and accurate accounting of the Alpha Funds and any proceeds thereof, such as the Camshaft LP Interest, including each and every subsequent transfer and any proceeds thereof.
“The court will enter default judgment against Defendant Raveendran…in the amount of USD 533,000,000, and on Counts II, V and VI in the amount of USD 540,647,109.29,” it has been said in the judgement.
The GLAS Trust moved the Delaware court and received a favourable order to take control of BYJU’s Alpha. Both BYJU’s Alpha and GLAS Trust then moved the Delaware Bankruptcy Court for the discovery of USD 533 million and related transactions. The latest judgement says that the court found Raveendran had knowledge of the discovery order but had simply refused to comply.
The court had also issued contempt order in the matter but noted that Raveendran continues to refuse to respond to the discovery requests or pay the sanctions he owes.
“The facts and circumstances of this case indicate that Raveendran’s continuing failure to adequately respond to the pending discovery requests is a personal decision by Raveendran, himself,” it has been noted in the judgment.
Raveendran’s argument that the GLAS Trust has access to documents through the books of BYJU’S Alpha on the information they are looking for was rejected by the court. It noted that there is nothing in the record to support the assertion GLAS has access to relevant documents.
“The court has also found that Raveendran’s behaviour has been a strategic pattern of willful failure to comply with discovery,” the judgement said.
The court has already determined that Raveendran is in contempt of the previous discovery orders and has imposed sanctions of USD 10,000 per day until he purges his contempt.
“The monetary sanctions, however, remain unpaid and have been ineffective. Raveendran lives abroad and apparently has no intention of satisfying his financial penalties or complying with the discovery orders. Accordingly, the monetary sanctions have not provided an effective remedy, making a harsher sanction such as default judgment appropriate in this instance,” the judgement stated.
