Bang Si-hyuk Referred to Prosecutors Over HYBE IPO Fraud
Bang Si-hyuk spent 21 months under investigation. On September 3, police closed that chapter and opened a new one.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's financial crime unit referred the HYBE chairman to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office on suspicion of violating the Capital Markets Act. Four others went with him: a HYBE executive, former chief financial officer Kwon, and two private equity figures, New Main Equity CEO Kim Chang-hee and Eastone PE CEO Yang Jun-seok. None were detained.
Police allege that in 2019, when HYBE was still Big Hit Entertainment, Bang and the others told existing shareholders the company had no plans to go public. Those shareholders sold their stakes - between August and October that year - to a private equity fund with ties to people close to Bang. Investors in that fund were then told an IPO was coming, which police say helped the fund raise the money it used to buy the shares. HYBE listed in October 2020. When the fund sold its position afterward, it collected roughly 360 billion won in profit. Police allege Bang received about 30 percent of that under an undisclosed side agreement - 263.1 billion won, or roughly $193 million.
A Seoul court granted a pre-indictment order freezing that full amount. Police opened a preliminary inquiry into the case in December 2024 and converted it to a full investigation the following May. They sought arrest warrants for Bang twice this year, in April and May. Prosecutors rejected both, citing insufficient grounds. He was referred without detention.
One figure connected to the case, former chief investment officer Kim, left the country during the investigation. Police have obtained an arrest warrant for him and requested an Interpol red notice.
Bang's legal team has denied wrongdoing throughout. They maintain the transactions were legal and say they will lay out objective evidence to clear his name as the case moves forward.
The referral doesn't decide anything on its own - prosecutors independently review police findings before choosing whether to indict, seek more investigation, or drop the matter. But it puts South Korea's most powerful entertainment executive, the person who built BTS into a global act and grew HYBE into a multi-label conglomerate spanning Seventeen, Le Sserafim, and dozens of other artists, one step closer to a courtroom than he has been at any point since the allegations surfaced.
The 263.1 billion won stays frozen until prosecutors decide what comes next.
