{"id":48306,"date":"2025-08-06T17:03:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T17:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/48306\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T17:03:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T17:03:20","slug":"hybe-chair-bang-si-hyuk-vows-to-return-to-seoul-for-investigations-apologizes-to-hybe-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/48306\/","title":{"rendered":"Hybe Chair Bang Si-hyuk vows to return to Seoul for investigations, apologizes to Hybe members"},"content":{"rendered":"

In internal email released to media, music mogul pledges full cooperation with authorities over allegations tied to Hybe\u2019s 2020 IPO<\/p>\n

\"Hybe Hybe Chair Bang Si-hyk (Hybe) <\/p>\n

Bang Si-hyuk, founder and chair of K-pop powerhouse Hybe, has vowed to return to Seoul and cooperate with authorities investigating him for alleged fraudulent activity tied to the company\u2019s initial public offering in October 2020.<\/p>\n

In an internal email sent to Hybe employees Wednesday, Bang addressed mounting concerns over the legal allegations, issuing his first public statement on the matter and expressing regret for any distress caused to staff, artists and stakeholders.<\/p>\n

“While I\u2019ve instead focused on supporting BTS and other Hybe artists and advancing key business opportunities overseas, my continued time abroad has been prolonged,” Bang said. “By returning to Korea, it will be easier for me to fully cooperate with the authorities to address these allegations and alleviate any stress or anxiety these events have caused our community.”<\/p>\n

South Korean financial regulators and prosecutors are investigating allegations that in 2019, Bang misled early investors \u2014 such as venture capital firms \u2014 by denying any plans for a public listing before allegedly arranging the sale of shares to a special-purpose company tied to a private equity fund with which he had connections.<\/p>\n

Authorities suspect this may have constituted “fraudulent unfair trading” under Korea\u2019s Capital Markets Act. A person who gains or avoids losses of over 5 billion won through unfair trading may face five years to life in prison. Bang reportedly received 30 percent of the fund\u2019s resale profit following the IPO, pocketing roughly 190 billion won in unjust gains.<\/p>\n

The Financial Services Commission filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors on July 16, while the Financial Supervisory Service has conducted a separate inquiry under the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors\u2019 Office. A week later, police raided Hybe\u2019s headquarters in Seoul as part of an ongoing probe on the matter. The National Tax Service also launched a tax audit into Hybe on July 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs founder and chairman, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to do everything in my power to ensure nothing takes away from the hard-earned attention and praise your work continues to receive,\u201d Bang said.<\/p>\n

It is unclear when Bang will return to Korea or when he will be formally questioned by the investigators.<\/p>\n

jaaykim@heraldcorp.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In internal email released to media, music mogul pledges full cooperation with authorities over allegations tied to Hybe\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,424,405,134,41128,41129,41127,41126,136],"class_list":["post-48306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bang-si-hyuk","tag-bts","tag-entertainment","tag-financial-services-commission","tag-financial-supervisory-service","tag-fraudulent-unfair-trading","tag-hybe-chairman","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}