A new report shows that BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover, who recently quit his position as managing director of the company under public scrutiny, allegedly "purchased a porsche" and "told multiple people at the company that he spent $130,000 on a dining table."
Grover's wife Madhuri Jain Grover was fired as Head of Controls in February over issues around her management of BharatPe's funds, while Grover himself was under investigation for financial wrongdoings at the time of his departure.
Additionally, as reported yesterday, BharatPe is under investigation by GST authorities for allegations that they have been issuing bogus invoices without providing services over the last four years.
Last week, in the wake of leaving BharatPe, Ashneer Grover published a post on LinkedIn mocking those who said he had a "lavish" lifestyle. He said that even when travelling to USA and UK to raise a $370 million Series-E round for BharatPe, he would spend the nights at friends houses, even having "no qualms sleeping on the floor." All this despite the fact that he was within rights to stay in a luxury hotel on the company's dime.
However, according to Bloomberg, Grover and his wife were getting increasingly lavish in their spending back home in India. They upgraded their modest house for a rented penthouse, and renovated another luxury property. His purchase of the Porsche, and collection of luxury cars also belied a man that liked luxury.
In addition to the Porsche, Grover's fortunes as the head of a fintech unicorn have also allowed him to purchase multiple luxury cars, including the Rs. 2.5 crore priced Mercedes Maybach S650, the Porsche Cayman, the Mercedes Benz GLS350, and the Audi A6.
In the Bloomberg report, this clashed with the frugality of BharatPe's office culture. This ended up rubbing some employees the wrong way.
After Grover's departure from the company, BharatPe said it "reserves all rights to take further legal action against him (Ashneer Grover) and his family".