Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, co‑founders of troubled edtech giant Byju’s, announced plans on Thursday to pursue legal action against their lenders, represented by Glas Trust and other creditors for at least $2.5 billion in damages, alleging that these parties inflicted severe reputational and financial harm on both the founders personally and on Think & Learn, Byju’s parent company.
J Michael McNutt, senior litigation advisor at Paris-based law firm Lazareff Le Bars Eurl, which is representing Raveendran and Gokulnath, stated that lawsuits will be filed in Indian courts and in multiple foreign jurisdictions, targeting those behind what the founders describe as “reprehensible and improper” conduct during ongoing insolvency proceedings.
"BYJU's founders reserve all rights to bring actions against those parties that have caused damage to them personally and their businesses, including Think & Learn ... .We reserve the right to use all legal means to obtain justice for BYJU's founders," McNutt said in a statement.
Responding to the suit a spokesperson for GLAS and the Term Loan B Lenders to BYJU’s said, "Byju Raveendran’s latest act of threatening defamation claims against GLAS Trust and the Term Loan B Lenders is a transparent attempt to distract from the facts, coming on the heels of a U.S. federal court holding him in contempt. The fact of the matter is that every court to consider the issues has ruled against Mr. Raveendran and his cohorts. Judgments exceeding $533 million have been entered against Mr. Raveendran’s allies, including for their fraudulent conduct. Mr. Raveendran’s brother was found by a Delaware federal court to be untruthful and one of the most incompetent directors in Delaware’s history. A Delaware federal court stated its intention to make a criminal referral when Mr. Raveendran attempted to bribe a witness and has held Mr. Raveendran in contempt. There simply should be no doubt that we have at all times acted within our rights. Mr. Raveendran’s threats are desperate and meritless, and the irony of Mr. Raveendran threatening to sue for defamation when he continues to unlawfully conceal what happened to the missing $533 million should be lost on no one."
Byju’s Legal Battle
Glas Trust, which arranged $1.2 billion in term loans for Byju’s US subsidiary Alpha Inc., has itself sued Raveendran, Gokulnath and former strategy chief Anita Kishore in a Delaware bankruptcy court. In that case, Glas Trust accuses the trio of orchestrating a scheme to misappropriate $533 million of loan proceeds, a claim the founders vehemently deny.
On July 7, the court held Raveendran in civil contempt for failing to produce certain documents, a ruling he is seeking to have reconsidered on grounds that it overlaps with matters already before Indian tribunals.
Raveendran and Gokulnath are also challenging the standing of Glas Trust as a financial creditor at the National Company Law Tribunal in India and disputing the commencement of corporate‑insolvency proceedings against Think & Learn.
Their lawyers emphasise there is no court order in any jurisdiction obligating the founders personally to pay amounts to Think & Learn or any of its related entities. Meanwhile, India-based insolvency professionals have separately filed claims seeking to reverse alleged fraudulent transfers under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Once valued at $22 billion, Byju’s has grappled with debt defaults and a drawn‑out dispute with US lenders that triggered its insolvency. Alpha Inc. and Think & Learn are currently under parallel bankruptcy processes in the United States and India, respectively.
In announcing their counter‑offensive, the founders pledged to deploy “all legal means to obtain justice,” signalling a dramatic intensification of what has become one of India’s most high‑profile startup battles.
