Bang Si-hyuk’s legal battle turns on when BTS success became ‘predictable’

Bang Si-hyuk, the founder and chairman of HYBE sometimes dubbed the “father of K-pop,” is facing what could be his greatest crisis yet, as police, prosecutors and financial authorities investigate him for alleged fraudulent trading under the Capital Markets Act. At the heart of the probe is whether Bang concealed HYBE’s initial public offering (IPO) plans from existing shareholders and reaped illicit profits by using a private equity fund tied to a close associate. The fund allegedly earned more than 100 billion won ($73 million) in gains around the time HYBE — then Big Hit Entertainment — went public in October 2020. Authorities suspect Bang misled early investors into selling their stakes cheaply before the IPO, while HYBE maintains the profit was a result of “business judgment and luck,” not deception. Whether IPO plans were hidden from investors Bang first mentioned the possibility of taking the company public in 2017, telling Bloomberg at the time that he was “discussing an IPO with early investors such as Legend Holdings and LB Investment.” HYBE began its formal lisWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times