US bankruptcy court reverses $1 bn damages against Byju Raveendran

A United States federal bankruptcy court has reversed $1 billion damages ruling against founder Byju Raveendran, reported the news agency PTI, citing an official statement from Think and Learn Pvt Ltd, the parent company of the ed-tech giant.

Last month, a Delaware bankruptcy court ordered founder Byju Raveendran to pay more than $1 billion, highlighting that the executive who set up the ed-tech giant has reportedly refused to cooperate with legal efforts to locate nearly half the proceeds from a $1.2 billion term loan made by the US in 2021.

Why did Byju Raveendran refuse to cooperate?

According to the agency report, Byju Raveendran contested on the grounds that the court did not give him the 30 days which he asked for to arrange for an attorney in the United States to argue his case. The founder also vowed to appeal against the Delaware court order.

“The Delaware Court has reversed the USD 1 billion Judgement against Byju Raveendran, in view of fresh submissions made by Byju Raveendran through a motion to correct the Judgement of 20 November 2025. The Court agreed that damages had not been determined and ordered a new phase to commence in early January 2026 to determine any damages related to claims against Byju Raveendran,” according to the official statement cited in the news report.

What did the court order?

The Delaware Court on 8 December 2025 said that it will amend its Default Judgment Opinion to remove those sections assessing damages against Byju Raveendran.

The court also directed that the parties should provide their respective positions on the issue on 7 January 2026.

“An appropriate judgment order will be entered by the court following the completion of briefing on damages,” the court said, according to the agency report.

Earlier this year, Byju's creditors, including GLAS Trust, accused the company founder and his co-founder's wife, Divya Gokulnath, and an accomplice, Anita Kishore, of alleged ‘masterminding the theft’ of $533 million in proceeds from loans.

Byju's founders have earlier called the allegations ‘completely baseless and untrue’ and that the entire loan proceeds were funded back into Think and Learn Pvt Ltd (TLPL), which used it to pay for the $3 billion acquisitions the company carried out that year.

“GLAS Trust and the lenders withheld or misrepresented information, misleading courts and the public, and contributing to the collapse of the business, the loss of roughly 85,000 jobs, impacting 250 million students, and the destruction of tens of billions in enterprise value,” according to the statement cited in the agency report.

Further action ahead?

Byju Raveendran is also reportedly considering further action against GLAS Trust and others for that conduct. The founder had previously said he would sue GLAS Trust for USD 2.5 billion.

“Byju Raveendran today has not been found liable to pay a single dollar in damages to the Plaintiffs (GLAS Trust Co LLC),” said his litigation advisor Michael McNutt.

“During the damages proceedings starting January 2026, we intend to demonstrate to the Court that not only have the Plaintiffs suffered no damage whatsoever due to actions of Byju Raveendran, but also that the Plaintiffs have intentionally misled the Court in this proceeding and other adversary proceedings,” he said, according to the agency report.

“We also intend to demonstrate that these Plaintiffs have sought to mislead Courts in India and elsewhere to gain advantage in those Court proceedings by harassing and damaging Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath, and Riju Ravindran,” he said.

The statement also said that Byju Raveendran will submit “clinching evidence” before the US Courts, proving that GLAS Trust and the Resolution Professional (now managing Byju's) repeatedly misled the Delaware Court, Indian and other Courts, and the public by falsely alleging that $533 million (Alpha Funds) was diverted by the founders for their personal benefit.

“GLAS Trust's sworn statements that it 'does not know' where the money went are simply false. A review of information in the possession of GLAS Trust since at least April 2025 clearly demonstrates that the monies lent to Alpha (and sent by OCI to companies owned by Byju Raveendran) were indeed invested in Think & Learn in compliance with all relevant Indian laws and not ‘siphoned off’ to the founders,” according to the statement.

The evidence obtained by GLAS Trust's lawyers in other adversarial proceedings and later obtained by Raveendran and his counsel clearly demonstrates that GLAS Trust and Shailendra Ajmera - the Resolution Professional of TLPL - had full visibility into the use of the funds from the Alpha Loan guaranteed by TLPL, it said.

“In addition, the financial records of TLPL available publicly verify that Byju Raveendran and entities controlled by him invested in excess of USD 475 million by purchasing shares in TLPL in the same period,” it said.

“This evidence will be submitted as part of a full appeal against the entire amended judgment of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court of December 8, 2025, and as part of the claim to be filed against relevant parties previously announced with a value of over USD 2.5 billion. Byju Raveendran will also share the same evidence with the Indian Courts in the coming weeks.”

(With inputs from PTI)