HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk appeared at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Financial Crime Investigation Unit in Mapo on Monday morning amid a probe into allegations that he misled investors during the company’s IPO process and reaped illicit profits worth hundreds of billions of won.
Arriving around 9:55 a.m., Bang paused at the press line in a dark suit.
“I apologize for the concern this matter has caused. I will fully cooperate with today’s questioning,” he told reporters. Asked whether he had urged share sales during the IPO process or claimed there were no listing plans, he declined to comment, saying, “I’ll address those questions in the investigation.”
This is the first time Bang has been summoned by police over accusations that, ahead of HYBE’s initial public offering, he provided false information to investors to prompt them to sell their stakes.
Investigators suspect that in 2019, before HYBE went public, Bang told early investors there were “no IPO plans,” then steered them to sell shares to a private equity fund set up by an acquaintance.
After HYBE listed, the fund allegedly cashed out, and under a pre-arranged shareholders’ agreement, Bang took 30% of the profits―about 190 billion won in unjust gains, according to police.
On June 30, police carried out a search-and-seizure at the Korea Exchange to obtain materials related to HYBE’s listing review, followed by a raid of HYBE’s Yongsan headquarters on July 24.
Bang’s side has flatly denied the allegations, saying no false information was given to early investors and that the profit-sharing terms were proposed by the investors themselves.
Photo: Baik Seung-Chul
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)