"Invalid": Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu's Lawyer On Rs 15,000 Crore Divorce Bond

The California court's $1.7 billion (Rs 15,000 crore) bond order for Pramila Srinivasan, the wife of Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu, is “invalid,” his lawyer Christopher C Melcher has said. The allegations made by Vembu's wife are also “completely false,” he added.

“The wife's attorney… has made no effort to enforce the bond order in the past six months, which is a tacit acknowledgement that the order is invalid. Sridhar has no ability to post a bond for $1.7 billion, which highlights the absurdity of the ruling,” Melcher wrote in a statement on X.

As Sridhar Vembu's attorney, I can provide the real background for those who have any question whether Sridhar has done anything wrong. The allegations made by his wife are completely false and this story is likewise untrue.

Sridhar owns 5% of the shares of Zoho Corporation…

— Christopher C. Melcher (@CA_Divorce) January 11, 2026

After the California court order became public, Vembu's divorce was reported to be the world's fourth costliest. With a net worth estimated at $5.85 billion, he ranks among India's 40 richest individuals.

Addressing claims made during Vembu's California divorce proceedings, Melcher said that Vembu owns only 5 per cent of Zoho Corporation Private Limited (ZCPL) and offered to transfer 50 per cent of his shares to his wife. She has not accepted the proposal.

“She claims Sridhar owns 88 per cent of the stock. Her allegation is completely false,” he wrote. The lawyer also called the court's $1.7 billion bond order, made on an emergency application by Srinivasan, “a complete departure from the California justice system” and said that it has “no legal or factual basis.”

Vembu and Srinivasan married in 1993 and have a son. After nearly 25 years in the US, Vembu moved to Tamil Nadu in 2020 to pursue rural initiatives and run Zoho from India. Srinivasan filed for divorce the same year, alleging that Vembu abandoned her and their son, who has special needs, and secretly transferred key Zoho assets, including property and shares, to relatives without her knowledge.

Melcher dismissed these claims, saying, “The wife's assertion that Sridhar somehow secretly transferred his ownership in ZCPL to others to defraud her in the divorce is ridiculous. Sridhar is an honest person who has not cheated her. He did not know in 2011 that there would be a divorce in 2021. It makes no sense that he was planning for a divorce in 2011, then waited 10 years.”

The divorce lawyer also said that the court issued a receivership order against an individual who had no notice and was not present at the hearing. “It is a basic principle of justice that an order may not be made against someone in a civil case without notice and opportunity to be heard. This is all on appeal,” he said.

Pramila Srinivasan's attorney, John O Farley, told The News Minute, “No judge of any court has found the $1.7 billion bond order ‘invalid.' The order is valid, it is in force, and Mr Vembu's efforts to challenge it have been unsuccessful.”