Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu’s divorce sees a disputed $1.7B bond and his US lawyer calls the order flawed and says it’s under appeal.
Pramila Srinivasan and Sridhar Vembu’s divorce dispute has drawn global attention due to its scale and legal complexity (Photo: X)
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu’s life is now a case in a U.S. court’s proceedings as there have been reports of a U.S. court demanding a bond of $1.7 billion or about Rs 15,278 crores, from him. The case is on appeal, but it’s the enormity of the demand itself that’s brought the details of Sridhar’s ongoing divorce case with wife Pramila Srinivasan into the global limelight. There’s certainly much more at stake when it comes to marriage, money, overseas assets and the implications of a dispute when it comes to billions of dollars.
Pramila Srinivasan is more than Vembu’s separated wife. She also has made a name for herself in the American healthcare technology industry. Today, she is an academician, entrepreneur and leader in the non-profit sector from the Silicon Valley region. Srinivasan has been working at the nexus of technology and medicine as well as mental health. This is in addition to her accomplished professional life before the struggle involving the divorce.
Srinivasan is a native and resident of New York, where she chose to engage in advanced studies in engineering, a time when women were very sparse in the industry. She has a PhD in electrical and computer engineering, obtained from Purdue University, which is reflected in her current pursuits in digital health systems. She is also the founder of several firms, which include projects related to electronic health records, as well as research on autism, a sector that is a reflection of her current pursuits.
Vembu was married to Srinivasan in 1993, living for nearly 30 years in California, where they also had a 26 year old son who has autism. It is alleged that their marriage fell apart due to disagreements involving control and ownership of Zoho's assets. In court papers, it has been indicated that there were allegations involving abandonment, concealment of finance and also absence of consent concerning important business matters. However, Vembu has denied these allegations, which he said contradicted the story told by his wife.
At the center of the dispute lies California's community property law, which considers property acquired during marriage as jointly owned, no matter where the asset is held. Srinivasan contends Zoho shares and intellectual property were transferred to Vembu's siblings in India, in an attempt to improperly shield them under that law. Legal experts said disputes of this nature become particularly unfathomably complicated when global businesses and foreign transfers are involved.
The amount of the bond was in line with the emergency petition filed by Srinivasan towards the latter part of 2024. The courts had to ensure that the assets that could potentially be divided were safeguarded in the process of the suit. With Vembu's net worth rising to over $5 billion in 2024 from $1.6 billion in 2018, the $600 million amount indicates the magnitude of the assets in question.
A lawyer in the United States for one of the company’s defendant executives, Christopher C. Melcher, called the “order both overstated and erroneous as a matter of law." Melcher claims that the judge was “misled by inaccurate allegations and pointed out that the bond order is presently stayed and appealable." Melcher further claims that the company’s executive, Vembu had actually offered Srinivasan half his stakes in Zoho, which were rejected by Srinivasan.
