Riju Ravindran, the suspended director of the troubled edtech firm Byju’s, has been imposed by the US bankruptcy judge to pay $10,000 a day until he helps locate $533 million, which his company is accused of hiding from its U.S lenders. This is as per a report by Bloomberg.
The $533 million is a collateral to the $1.2 billion loan the company acquired from its US investors in 2022.
The missing cash reportedly belongs to the bankrupt shell company, Byju’s Alpha Inc., which is affiliated to the edtech’ parent entity Think and Learn Pvt Limited, which was taken over by the lenders after the company defaulted on its loan.
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The US bankruptcy judge Brendan Shannon reportedly imposing the conditions on Ravindran, rejected the company’s request to put the US debt fight on hold to find new lawyers.
Reportedly, the company’s American lawyers wanted to quit appearing for the company’s dispute, citing “an irreparable breakdown”. However, Judge Shannon stated that the lawyers of the edtech firm should continue to represent them until at least the hearing next month in US bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware, where the case is going on.
In India, the edtech company had recently announced that it was in talks to settle $19 million which it defaulted to BCCI over sponsorship dues, after the former invoked bankruptcy proceedings against it.
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The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) bench tasked with the bankruptcy proceedings, has deferred the talks much to the displeasure of the investors, who questioned the possibility of such a settlement when the company can hardly pay their employees. The NCLAT also sought the company to file the settlement papers to make sure the company has not siphoned off its money from elsewhere apart from its accounts.
The NCLT has dissolved the board members of the company with an Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) taking over the affairs of the company.
