HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk (Instagram) Korean police referred on Sept. 3 HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk and four others to the prosecution for allegedly degrading investors and making illegal profits of 263.1 billion won (about $194 million) ahead of the entertainment company’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2019. The case was forwarded by the Financial Crimes Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to the prosecution without detention after they finished their investigation which took 20 months. The five individuals, consisting of Bang Si-hyuk, HYBE executives and private equity fund officials, were referred to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office on charges of fraudulent trading under Korea’s Capital Market Act. According to the police, they are suspected of obtaining 263.1 billion won in illicit profits by deceiving existing shareholders into believing there were no plans for an IPO, purchasing their shares through a private equity fund, and th...
