Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: A Bankruptcy Court in the US on February 28 issued a summary judgement against Riju Ravindran, Think & Learn (the parent company of Byju’s), and the hedge fund Camshaft Capital, finding them guilty of fraudulent transfer of $533 million and a “breach of fiduciary duty.” In its ruling, the Delaware Bankruptcy Court confirmed that the multiple transfers of funds from Byju’s Alpha (the US subsidiary of the beleaguered edtech company Byju’s) constituted actual fraudulent transfers and conversion.
The court also confirmed that Riju Ravindran (brother of Byju Raveendran) violated his fiduciary duties as a director of Byju’s Alpha.
“We are gratified the Court unequivocally recognised that Riju Ravindran, Camshaft, and Byju’s together conducted a deliberate fraud on a global scale arising from the theft of $533 million. This is a significant step forward in the Lenders’ efforts to recover the stolen funds that are rightfully owed to them,” the Lenders said in a statement.
The court order came after a case was filed in February last year by Byju’s lenders represented by Glas Trust LLC.
Byju’s Alpha was a special purpose financial institution created to borrow a five-year $1.2 billion term loan from Glas Trust in November 2021. Byju’s Alpha defaulted on its loan obligations in March 2022 and was put under trusteeship in March 2023.
The $1.2-billion loan was provided to Byju’s by a syndicate of 37 financial institutions.
According to the lenders, in 2022, Byju’s Alpha, under the control of the Raveendran family (and prior to the brothers’ removal as director and officers of BYJU’s Alpha on March 3, 2023), allegedly transferred $533 million in Term Loan proceeds to Camshaft Capital Fund, a sham hedge fund founded by William Morton. “In March 2023, Byju’s Alpha’s limited partnership interest in Camshaft Capital Fund was transferred by Riju and Byju to Inspilearn LLC, and then again transferred to, and then redeemed by an offshore trust of Inspilearn in February 2024. Subsequently, there was yet another transfer to a still undisclosed entity,” according to the lenders.
