Cha Ga-won Faces Third Arrest Warrant Bid; Lawyer Denies Flight Risk, Evidence Tampering Concerns

Police have requested an arrest warrant for a third time against Cha Ga-won, the head of the entertainment agency One Hundred, who is facing allegations of fraud involving around 30 billion won.

On the 22nd, the Financial Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency requested an arrest warrant for CEO Cha on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes. Previously, police applied for arrest warrants twice, in early May and on the 15th of the same month, but prosecutors rejected both requests with instructions to conduct additional investigations to supplement the criminal fact configuration.

CEO Cha is accused of proposing a business utilizing the intellectual property (IP) of artists under her management agency to Nomus Inc., signing a contract, and receiving an advance payment of 24.2 billion won without actually carrying out the business.

Police suspect that CEO Cha concluded a double contract while concealing the situation even though the existing contract was unlikely to expire, and that she also failed to prepare to fulfill the business. Separately, CEO Cha is also accused of failing to fulfill a contract and receiving a deposit of 5.4 billion won after promising to enter into a jeonse lease agreement with an acquaintance for each other's homes.

CEO Cha's side strongly protested the police's third warrant application. Hyun Dong-yeop, an attorney at Law Firm Hwa-Geum representing CEO Cha, claimed in a statement and a YouTube video, "It is proof that the prosecution's supplementary investigation power is desperately needed when the police commit illegal investigations that directly violate the Criminal Procedure Act and apply for an arrest warrant based on them."

Attorney Hyun also claimed, "Chairperson Cha Ga-won has fully cooperated with the investigation, submitted all relevant materials and forensic data, so there is no concern about destruction of evidence and no reason to flee. As a mother with a middle school child, there is no possibility of flight whatsoever." He repeatedly denied the necessity of an arrest, stating, "The formatting of former employees' computers is merely a standard company protocol and not the destruction of evidence, and they are driving Chairperson Cha Ga-won based solely on the statements of employees."

Meanwhile, apart from CEO Cha's case, Hive Chairman Bang Si-hyuk, who faces allegations of fraudulent unfair trading under the Capital Markets Act, has also had arrest warrants requested twice by police, both of which were rejected by prosecutors. At the time, prosecutors returned the warrants on the grounds that the police had not sufficiently fulfilled the supplementary investigation requirements.

kyakng@sbs.co.kr 

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)