Byju’s Ex-Billionaire Founder Hid $506 Million Using UK Firm

Bankrupt Indian education technology firm Byju’s used a UK logistics company to help hide $505.9 million in cash from US lenders, a court filing shows.

London-based OCI Limited blamed a former adviser for arranging to move the money in and out of its business as part of a plan by Byju founder Byju Raveendran to block lenders from clawing it back. OCI founder Oliver Chapman laid out details of the transfers as part of a proposed settlement in a lawsuit that’s accusing OCI of aiding Byju’s to conceal the cash.

Chapman in a court filing said former adviser Rupin Banker worked with Raveendran to transfer cash to the logistics firm. The money was supposed to be used on equipment and services for Byju’s, whose formal name is Think & Learn Pvt Ltd. But instead, Banker and Raveendran moved it again in order to hand it to a Singapore-based entity called Byju’s Global, Chapman said in a declaration.

“We are stunned by the filing and by Mr. Chapman’s declaration,” David Wilks, Banker’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement. Banker was a “non-executive structuring adviser without any authority to bind OCI. Mr. Banker will continue to defend himself vigorously,” Wilks said.

Representatives for Raveendran did not respond to requests for comment.

To settle legal claims against OCI, Chapman agreed to provide lenders with details about what happened to the cash. The lender-backed lawsuit and a related case aim to hold Banker and Raveendran responsible for the missing money.

For more than two years, US lenders have been fighting Raveendran and the company over a $1.2 billion loan that went bad. The lenders took control of the US shell company that borrowed the money and dispersed most it for use by Byju’s operating entities in India and elsewhere.

Last year, the lenders put the shell company, Byju’s Alpha, into bankruptcy. They have been using that Chapter 11 case to pursue the leftover loan proceeds, which had been about $533 million, according to court documents. The two sides continue to battle in court in the US and in India, where the operating company, Byju’s, was forced into bankruptcy as well.

The US bankruptcy case is BYJU’s Alpha Inc., 24-10140, US Bankruptcy Court District of Delaware (Wilmington).