While the deadline of the 10.5 billion won deposit lease contract for the luxury villa of singer LEE SEUNG GI is approaching this month, attention is focused on the possibility of recovering this deposit after the incarceration of the owner, Cha Ga Wwon, president of One Hundred.
President Cha Ga Won was incarcerated on August 3 after the issuance of an arrest warrant on suspicion of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
President Cha Ga Won is accused of having proposed to the company Knowmerce a project using the intellectual property (IP) of artists attached to her entertainment agency and of having received 24.2 billion won in advance payments after signing the contract, without however executing the project in question. It is reported that she allegedly started the activities of her entertainment agency while she was in a situation of heavy debt, and that evidence suggests she subsequently used a contract-splitting scheme to pay off her debts in chain. However, President Cha Ga Won‘s camp denies all of these accusations.
Following the incarceration of President Cha Ga Won, the outcome of ongoing financial disputes with artists and employees of her entertainment agency is also drawing attention. Indeed, President Cha Ga Won is not only suspected of fraud against Knowmerce, but also of not having paid financial settlements to artists such as singers LEE SEUNG GI, LEE MUJIN, EXO CBX, and THE BOYZ, while failing to pay her employees’ salaries and sums owed to partner companies.
In the particular case of LEE SEUNG GI, he currently resides as a tenant in a luxury villa located in the Yongsan District in Seoul, belonging to President Cha Ga Won, for which he paid a deposit of 10.5 billion won, and attention is focused on the possibility of a deposit refund as the contract period expires this month. LEE SEUNG GI has so far expressed his concerns regarding the non-refund of his deposit, claiming to have been the victim of a lease scam by concluding a contract at a price higher than the market rate with President Cha Ga Won. Given that out of the 10.5 billion won deposit paid, approximately 7.3 billion won comes from a loan and not from his own funds, LEE SEUNG GI will have to repay the loan himself to the financial institution if the deposit is not returned to him. Although legal procedures such as a claim for return of deposit, compulsory execution, or an auction exist, obtaining a result requires a considerable delay and the possibility of a full refund remains uncertain. Earlier at the beginning of this year, it was reported that the villa in which LEE SEUNG GI resides had been seized by the national tax service due to non-payment of taxes by President Cha Ga Won.
It is known that LEE SEUNG GI invested a significant sum to construct a building in Jangchung-dong, Seoul, but that he cannot enter it due to the exercise of a right of retention by the construction company following a failure to pay the balance. It is presumed that LEE SEUNG GI planned to move into this building once the lease contract for his current residence ended shortly, but he found himself unable to access it. The construction company turns out to be P-ARK Construction, a family company of President Cha Ga Won.
Journalist: Shawn
Translator: Shawn
Source: SNS One Hundred, LEE SEUNG GI
