US Court Reverses Jaw-Dropping $1 Billion Damages Against Byju Raveendran

Published 5 days ago3 minute read
David Isong
David Isong
US Court Reverses Jaw-Dropping $1 Billion Damages Against Byju Raveendran

A United States federal bankruptcy court has reversed a $1 billion damages ruling against Byju Raveendran, founder of the ed-tech giant Think and Learn Pvt Ltd (Byju's). This decision, reported by the news agency PTI, came after Raveendran made fresh submissions through a motion to correct an earlier judgment. Previously, a Delaware bankruptcy court had ordered Raveendran to pay over $1 billion, asserting that the executive allegedly refused to cooperate with legal efforts to locate nearly half of the proceeds from a $1.2 billion term loan made by the US in 2021.

Raveendran had contested the initial ruling, stating that the court did not grant him the 30 days he requested to arrange for a US attorney to argue his case. He had also vowed to appeal against the Delaware court order. Following his new submissions, the court agreed that damages had not been determined and ordered a new phase to commence in early January 2026 to ascertain any damages related to claims against Byju Raveendran.

On December 8, 2025, the Delaware Court stated it would amend its Default Judgment Opinion to remove the sections assessing damages against Byju Raveendran. The court also directed the involved parties to provide their respective positions on the issue by January 7, 2026, indicating that an appropriate judgment order would be entered after the completion of briefing on damages.

Earlier, Byju's creditors, including GLAS Trust, had accused the company founder, co-founder's wife Divya Gokulnath, and Anita Kishore, of allegedly 'masterminding the theft' of $533 million in proceeds from loans. These allegations were vehemently denied by Byju's founders, who labeled them 'completely baseless and untrue.' They asserted that the entire loan proceeds were funded back into Think and Learn Pvt Ltd (TLPL) and used for the $3 billion acquisitions the company carried out that year.

Byju Raveendran's official statement, cited in the news report, further accused GLAS Trust and the lenders of withholding or misrepresenting information, which he claimed misled courts and the public. He argued that their actions contributed to the business's collapse, leading to the loss of approximately 85,000 jobs, impacting 250 million students, and the destruction of tens of billions in enterprise value.

Raveendran is reportedly considering further legal action against GLAS Trust and others for their conduct, having previously stated he would sue GLAS Trust for $2.5 billion. His litigation advisor, Michael McNutt, confirmed that Raveendran has not been found liable to pay a single dollar in damages to the plaintiffs. McNutt stated their intention to demonstrate in the damages proceedings starting January 2026 that not only have the plaintiffs suffered no damage whatsoever due to Raveendran's actions, but also that the plaintiffs have intentionally misled the court in this and other adversary proceedings. He added they would demonstrate that the plaintiffs sought to mislead courts in India and elsewhere to gain advantage by harassing Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath, and Riju Ravindran.

Raveendran plans to submit

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