Prithvi Info Solution founder’s assets auctioned to recover $17 million penalty

MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM | 03/04/2014 12:18 PM 

A Court in the US held Prithvi Information Solution and its associates guilty for $17 million fraud to Kyko Global Inc. On failure of payment, the Sheriff seized and auctioned personal assets of the company founder Madhavi Vuppalapati

Following directions from a US District Court to recover money, the Sheriff from KingCounty auctioned personal assets of Madhavi Vuppalapati, founder of Prithvi Information Solutions Ltd to recover $17 million.
 

Canada based Kyko Global Inc had filed a fraud case against the Indian company in the Washington Court. In its petition, Kyko Global had alleged that Prithvi and its affiliates created fictitious, counterfeit customers to get an advance payment of $17 million from them.
 

In its Judgment on 6 September 2013, the Court said, “Judgment should be entered against Prithvi Information Solutions Ltd, Prithvi Information Solutions International LLC, Prithvi Catalytic Inc, Prithvi Solutions Inc, Madhavi Vuppalapati, DCGS Inc, Inalytix Inc, Avani Investments Inc, Ananya Capital Inc, EPP Inc, Financial Oxygen Inc, Huawei Latin American Solutions Inc and L3C Inc in the amount of $1,75,68,854 plus prejudgment interest accruing at the rate agreed to between the parties at 2.45% per month in the total amount of $7,96,776, as confessed to by the Defendants.”
 

However, Prithvi and its associates including Vuppalapati failed to pay $17 million along with penalty charges. This lead to the Sheriff auctioning personal assets like Lexus car, jewellery and household good belonging to Vuppalapati on 20 March 2014.
 

In November 2011, Kyko said it entered into an agreement with Prithvi for certain factoring services. As per their agreement, Prithvi had to identify certain of its customer account receivable for IT services and authorize direct payment to be made to Kyko. Prithvi Information Solutions offered account receivables of few major customers to Kyko. However, none of the customers Prithvi offered had any business relationship with it.
 

When Kyko tried to acknowledge that these clients will make payments directly to Kyko, they got verifications, but in reality, it was the associates of Prithvi that had posed as clients and created and executed the verifications. When Kyko requested Madhvi Vuppalapati to be put in touch directly with the representatives of the five clients, she turned down the request saying that it will be detrimental to their relationships with these clients.
 

Over a next two years, Vuppalapati and her associates continuously deceived the unsuspecting Kyko, in the process and kept them in the dark, Kyko alleged. Finally, while attempting to collect outstanding dues, Kyko came to know, through its own internal investigation that Prithvi had created fictitious customers to deceive Kyko and extract more monies from it.
 

In order to get money back, Kyko filed a lawsuit on 16 June 2013 against Prithvi Information Solutions at the US District Court. On 8 August 2013, Kyko moved the court for issuance of judgment in amount against defendants in pursuant to confession of judgment and the motion was granted by the court.