Lawyers representing Kerala businessman and aspiring politician Rajendran Vellapalath, who has been accused of stealing assets formerly belonging to Byju’s, have filed motions to withdraw from the case in a US court. The counsel cited “irreconcilable differences” and non-payment of fees for withdrawing from the case.
Rajendran Vellapalath, a Dubai-based businessman who is considered close to Byjus founder Byju Raveendran, was accused of stealing assets that were formerly owned by the edtech company Byjus. These assets were put under trusteeship by an American court after the edtech company defaulted on a $1.2 billion term loan obtained from Glas Trust, a US-based consortium of lenders.
On Wednesday, March 5, two law firms, Cross and Simon, LLC and Chugh, LLP, filed motions to withdraw as lawyers representing Rajendran and his Voizzit group of companies in two separate cases at the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
Rajendran’s lawyers told the court that there “exists a significant difference of opinion” between them and their clients, which “makes continuing the representation unnecessarily difficult, and the Voizzit defendants have insisted upon taking action that counsel has a fundamental disagreement with.”
Accused of siphoning off assets
Rajendran, a Dubai-based businessman close to Byju’s founder, Byju Raveendran, is accused of illegally siphoning off assets from Byju’s after the edtech company defaulted on a USD 1.2 billion loan. These assets—including the app companies Epic!, Neuron Fuel, and Tangible Play—were placed under a court-appointed trustee in the US.
On March 5, law firms Cross and Simon, LLC and Chugh, LLP filed motions to withdraw from representing Rajendran and his Voizzit group in two separate cases at the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. The lawyers stated that Voizzit’s actions created a “significant difference of opinion” with their counsel.
After being appointed on September 23, 2024, the trustee, Claudia Z Springer, sought “immediate relief” from the Delaware Bankruptcy Court in November last year, alleging that Voizzit had stolen the apps.
According to the US court filings, the trustee alleged that Rajendran and his company, Voizzit, “began to systematically loot the debtors’ estates with the assistance of Vinay Ravindra,” the Chief Content Officer of Think & Learn, Byju’s parent company. Vinay was also the former CEO of Epic and Tangible Play.
The suit alleged that between September 26 and October 1 last year, Vinay had transferred over $200,000 to Whitehat Education Technology LLC, another company under Byju's umbrella. On October 3, 2024, Vinay is said to have transferred over a million dollars from Epic to Voizzit LLC, a Rajendran-controlled entity in Dubai. Vinay also allegedly transferred control of Epic’s Apple app store account and Google Play Store account to Voizzit.
Rajendran has claimed that he was owed these assets. According to him, in September 2023, Think & Learn took a USD 100 million loan from Riju Ravindran, the younger brother of Byju Raveendran. The terms of the loan agreement included “strategic conversion rights” for the ownership of Epic and Tangible and “control over all digital platforms, assets, and user data.” In December 2023, Riju Ravindran gave up his rights as per the loan agreement to Voizzit for USD 25.5 million.
In the latest filing, Rajendran’s counsel stated in clear terms that the “Voizzit defendants have failed to meet their obligations to counsel, have not paid for legal services of counsel and have been provided notice of the same.”
The law firm’s recusal is another twist in these case diaries. On February 19, the court held Rajendran, Vinay, and Voizzit in contempt for failing to comply with an earlier injunction to return stolen assets. They were ordered to pay USD 571,762.05 with post-judgement interest.
In response, Rajendran and Voizzit denied all allegations, claiming a lack of “sufficient knowledge or information” to respond. The 39-page document, filed on February 19 by Rajendran and Voizzit, responded to each of the 97 paragraphs filed by the trustee that contained a mixture of both information and allegations.
This was followed by the law firms backing away from the case on Wednesday.
This is not the first time that Rajendran and Voizzit’s counsel have excused themselves from representing them. In early December last year, another law firm, Potter Anderson & Corroon, LLP withdrew from the case.