Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
HYBE chairman Bang appears before police for questioning
Bang Si-hyuk, chairman and founder of K-pop powerhouse HYBE, walks into the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Monday, to face questioning over alleged fraudalent trading. Yonhap
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Bang Si-hyuk, chairman and founder of K-pop powerhouse HYBE, appeared before police on Monday for questioning on allegations of unfair trading linked to the company’s initial public offering (IPO).
During his appearance for questioning, Bang apologized for "causing concern" due to his personal matters.
"I will fully cooperate with the investigation," he said.
Bang and several former HYBE executives are under investigation for violating the Capital Markets Act. Police suspect that during HYBE’s IPO process, they misled existing shareholders into believing there were no plans for a listing, inducing them to sell their shares to a private equity fund’s special purpose company.
HYBE later pursued the IPO, and police allege that Bang illicitly gained roughly 190 billion won ($140 million) through the private equity fund’s share sale.
Police began investigating the case late last year, searched the Korea Exchange in June to seize documents related to HYBE’s listing and raided HYBE’s headquarters in July. Separately, the Financial Supervisory Service’s special judicial police are also investigating allegations of unfair share trading involving Bang.