BANG SI HYUK
The chairman of HYBE, BANG SI HYUK, banned from leaving the territory for suspicions of “deceptive fraudulent transactions”, will he be able to board a plane for the United States in July?
During a regular press conference held on the morning of April 20 at the SEOUL METROPOLITAN POLICE AGENCY, in the Jongno district, Commissioner Park Jeong Bo stated:
“The investigation concerning Chairman BANG is almost complete and we are proceeding with a legal review. We will be able to conclude the case in the near future”.
Currently, Chairman BANG is subject to a ban on leaving the territory due to these charges. In this context, reports stating a request for cooperation from the UNITED STATES EMBASSY in Korea to allow the departure of Chairman BANG have sparked strong interest.
Regarding this subject, Commissioner Park clarified: “We have not received any request (concerning cooperation for the departure of Chairman BANG)”. He continued by saying: “I do not know if a request reached the NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY, but nothing was received by the SEOUL AGENCY. If a request arrives, we will examine its validity in accordance with the law and principles”. Commissioner Park also added: “If the NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY examines this content, it will solicit the opinion of the investigation team”.
Previously, it was reported that the UNITED STATES EMBASSY in Korea had recently sent a letter to the Acting Commissioner General of the NATIONAL POLICE, Yoo Jae Seong, asking for his cooperation so that Chairman BANG and other high-level executives of HYBE could travel to the United States. The reasons for this visit would include participation in the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States planned for next July 4, as well as support for the American concerts of BTS currently on world tour.
Chairman BANG is suspected of having deceived existing investors in 2019, before the initial public offering of HYBE, by claiming that there were no plans for an initial public offering (IPO), in order to incite them to sell their shares to a special purpose company (SPC) established by a private equity fund (PEF) created by HYBE executives. The police suspect that Chairman BANG, in accordance with a private contract concluded in advance with the investment fund, received 30% of the capital gains after the initial public offering, thus realizing an illicit profit of approximately 190 billion won.
The police took a measure to ban Chairman BANG from leaving the territory last August and conducted interrogations five times. Chairman BANG‘s camp maintains that the laws and regulations in force were respected during the initial public offering of the company and that there is no legal problem.
Journalist: Shawn
Translator: Shawn
Source: SNS HYBE
