Main points
- South Korean prosecutors have rejected a request to arrest Bang Si-hyeok, accused of fraud, due to insufficient grounds.
- Bang Si-hyeok is suspected of misleading investors regarding the listing of his company Hybe on the stock exchange.
BTS / Photo by Getty Images
South Korean prosecutors have rejected a police request to arrest K-pop mogul Bang Si-hyuk, who created the super-popular band BTS. The businessman is accused of fraud.
Prosecutors said there was “no sufficient basis” for an arrest at this stage and called for further investigation, the BBC reported.
Police accuse Bang Si-hyeok of misleading his investors in 2019. The man claimed that an IPO for his record company Hybe was unlikely, even though he was secretly preparing for it.
Hybe's shares, now worth $7.3 billion, went public on the South Korean stock exchange in October 2020. Police allege that Ban embezzled about 200 billion won ($136 million), but he denies the charges.
Hybe's headquarters have been raided and some of the K-pop mogul's assets have been frozen during the investigation, and there have been calls for him to step down as chairman of the company.
According to Ban Si-hyeok, his actions were legal. The businessman has been banned from traveling abroad since August.
The warrant request comes just weeks after BTS embarked on a world tour after a four-year hiatus, with industry experts estimating that Hybe could earn more than $1 billion.
Under South Korean law, individuals convicted of illegally obtaining 5 billion won or more face five years to life imprisonment.
Who is Ban Si Hyuk?
At a young age, Bang Si-hyeok became interested in music. In school, he performed in a band that performed tracks he wrote, and during his college years, he began his career as a songwriter.
In 1997, he founded the record label JYP Entertainment with singer Park Jin-yeon. In 2005, Bang left the company and created his own business, Big Hit Entertainment, now known as Hybe.
BTS, formed in 2013, has become one of the most successful pop groups. The group consists of seven members: RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook.