Cha Ga-won, Head of Entertainment Agency, Arrested on Allegations of KRW 30 Billion Fraud

Cha Ga-won, the head of entertainment label One Hundred who is facing allegations of fraud amounting to tens of billions of won, has been arrested.

Judge Budongsik, the senior judge dedicated to warrant proceedings at the Seoul Central District Court, held a pre-arrest bail hearing (warrant substantive review) today (August 3) for Cha, who is accused of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes, and issued an arrest warrant, stating that there is a concern of evidence destruction.

Cha is accused of proposing a business utilizing the intellectual property (IP) of celebrities managed by her agency to the company Nomus, signing a contract, and receiving an advance payment of KRW 24.2 billion, while failing to actually carry out the business.

Police believe that Cha concealed from Nomus the fact that her prior contracts with other companies were not expected to expire soon, thereby entering into a double contract, and that she was not prepared to execute the business.

In addition, it is reported that police have captured circumstances indicating Cha started the entertainment agency business while carrying a massive debt, and subsequently rolled over her debts using a contract-splitting method.

Cha's side denies all such allegations.

Exiting the courthouse after the warrant review, which lasted about 2 hours and 40 minutes today, Cha remained silent in response to reporters' questions such as "What did you explain?" and "Do you admit to the raised allegations?"

Deeming her arrest necessary, police had previously applied for an arrest warrant twice, but prosecutors rejected them, requesting supplementary investigations.

Accordingly, police conducted additional investigations in consultation with prosecutors, such as tracking Cha's bank accounts and analyzing contractual relationships, before applying for an arrest warrant for a third time. Prosecutors then requested the arrest warrant on July 28.

With her custody secured as the arrest warrant was issued at the third attempt, the remaining police investigation is expected to gain momentum.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.