Byju’s exec, business ally face US sanctions for draining $1mn from subsidiaries

A US federal judge is considering to impose millions of dollars in sanctions on Vinay Ravindra, the chief content officer of troubled Indian edtech firm Byju’s as well as on Rajendran Vellapalath, a company ally who founded Dubai-based tech startup Voizzit Technology, Bloomberg reported.
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The sanctions are for their alleged roles in stripping software, cash, and other assets from businesses which Byju’s owns that are under court supervision.
Altogether, they allegedly drained over $1 million in cash plus valuable internet platforms used by students and other assets of Epic! Creations and Tangible Play.
The US Bankruptcy Judge John T. Dorsey said at a court hearing on Tuesday that he would issue an “order to show cause” to force both of them to justify their actions, or required to pay financial penalties.
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The development comes amid lenders who are owed more than $1.2 billion from the firm are fighting to liquidate the same US education software companies that Byju’s had purchased a few years ago for $820 million.
Vellapalath, argued that Voizzit’s actions were legitimate because it owns Epic! and Tangible Play and not Byju’s.
He further added that Voizzit had loaned Byju’s more than $100 million in 2023 and thus, had the right to take ownership of the units, according to the report.
However, Dorsey rejected this saying he did not “find Mr. Vellapalath to be credible.”
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This comes at a time when Byju Raveendran, the founder of Byju’s has been desperately trying to regain control of his falling education technology empire, which is under court supervision in India and the US.
For example, a Nebraska businessman last month testified that he was misled and spent months unknowingly helping Raveendran attempting to regain control of Byju’s US software companies.
Raveendran on the other hand, denied all wrongdoings previously.