Delaware court filing accuses Byju Raveendran of siphoning $533 million; founders reject claims

A fresh filing in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court has alleged that $533 million missing from Byju’s Alpha — a US-based entity now under the control of its term loan B lenders — was effectively “roundtripped right back to Byju Raveendran and his affiliates.” 

The filing supports Byju’s Alpha’s proposed settlement with OCI Limited, a UK-based procurement company that received most of the disputed funds. In a sworn declaration submitted as part of the settlement, OCI’s founder Oliver Chapman detailed how the money moved after being received, down to the cent. 

Chapman alleged that the funds were not used for legitimate commercial purposes such as procuring tablets or advertising services for Think & Learn, Byju’s parent company. Instead, the filing claims the money was transferred through a series of opaque transactions designed to route the bulk of it to a Singapore-based entity — Byju’s Global Pte Ltd — personally owned by Raveendran. 

“Chapman’s credible declaration, in other words, demonstrates that Raveendran’s plot was to siphon hundreds of millions of dollars of corporate assets for personal use,” the filing stated. 

It also alleged that Raveendran, along with a former OCI representative Rupin Banker and others, “abused OCI to facilitate a fraud on the Debtor and its creditors.” 

In response, the founders of Byju’s issued a media statement on November 17, strongly denying the claims. They said they “categorically and unequivocally reject” the allegations, calling the declaration by Chapman “selective and incomplete.” 

“Mr. Chapman’s testimony is full of conjectures and selective insinuations and does not substantiate any claim of wrongdoing by the founders of BYJU’S,” the statement said. “At most, his declaration reflects his limited knowledge of specific expenditures undertaken by OCI; it does not establish any diversion of funds by the founders.”