The founder of South Korean entertainment agency “HYBE”, Bang Si-hyuk, has been implicated in a fraudulent unfair trading offence as specified by the “Capital Market and Financial Investment Business Act.” On July 24, police searched HYBE’s headquarters. Thirteen days later, on the morning of August 6, Bang Si-hyuk sent an email to internal staff in response to the recent controversy.
Bang Si-hyuk apologized, saying: “The various incidents that started last year, coupled with my personal matters recently, have caused the name of the company and myself to repeatedly appear in negative news.” He continued, “HYBE was founded as the starting point for the ideals and dreams I have as a creator, as something launched with a grand dream and sense of mission to advance the music industry. In that process, I firmly believed I did my best, but when I look back humbly at times, I realize such confidence may be seen as arrogance. I am once again carefully examining whether there were any shortcomings or mistakes I overlooked in the process.”
Regarding the allegation of improper profit, Bang Si-hyuk stated: “I’m well aware this has caused great concern among the staff, and the past few months, during which I failed to respond to various suspicions and disputes with greater agility, were also painful for me.” He stressed, “No one understands better than I do that my personal issues cannot continue to burden the company and industry.” He also explained, “Due to the music production of artists set to make comebacks and the company’s future business expansions, I’ve had to spend increasing amounts of time overseas in recent years,” but now, he will temporarily put aside his work and return to Korea as soon as possible to accept investigation by the authorities.
Bang Si-hyuk is suspected of telling investors in 2019 that there were no plans for an IPO, convincing investors to sell their shares to a private equity fund linked to him. When “HYBE” did go public, he sold off the shares in the private fund for a 30% profit, obtaining a total illicit gain of 190 billion Korean won (about 570 million Malaysian ringgit).
News Source: 嘘！星闻