Singer and actor Lee Seung-gi won his lawsuit against Hook Entertainment regarding the settlement amount. The court ordered Hook to pay Lee Seung-gi '580 million won.'
The Seoul Central District Court Civil Settlement Division 20 (Director General Lee Se-ra) on the 4th ruled in the first instance of the lawsuit filed by Hook against Lee Seung-gi for confirmation of non-existence of debt that 'the counter-defendant (Hook) must pay the counter-plaintiff (Lee Seung-gi) 578 million won along with delayed interest.'
Lee Seung-gi had been in conflict with Hook, his former agency, over the settlement amount since 2022. He sent a certified mail to Hook, claiming he had not received any royalties from his music for 18 years since his debut, and demanded that all revenue details from the distribution of all albums be disclosed and that the unpaid music fees be settled.
In response, Hook stated, 'When we entered into the exclusive contract in 2021, we confirmed the settlement details and settled the monetary debt relation. We have prepared an agreement confirming these facts,' but Lee Seung-gi refuted this, calling it a 'false claim' and sent a notice of termination for the exclusive contract.
Subsequently, Hook stated, 'The amount requested by Lee Seung-gi is too far from the actual amount that Hook must settle, so we couldn't reach a mutual agreement. In addition to the settlement amount of approximately 1.3 billion won, we paid Lee Seung-gi the overdue settlement amount of approximately 2.9 billion won and the delayed interest of approximately 1.2 billion won in full.' They filed a lawsuit for confirmation of non-existence of debt against Lee Seung-gi to conclude the dispute over the settlement amount, claiming that they paid too much and that they should retrieve the advertising fee of approximately 900 million won.
Lee Seung-gi responded, 'This morning, I received a message that about 5 billion won was deposited into my bank account. I do not know on what basis or how they calculated such an amount. As I cannot understand Hook's calculation, I believe I will continue to dispute this in court.'
Lee Seung-gi also stated, 'The Hook side hid the fact of the music revenue generated for about 18 years since my debut and did not settle this. I also learned through recent reports that former and current directors of Hook embezzled some of the advertising model fees. When I raised objections to this, only then did they acknowledge the fact and pay about 630 million won in advertising fees and delayed interest.' He filed charges against Hook's executives for violations related to aggravated punishment for specific economic crimes (embezzlement) and violations of the laws regarding aggravated punishment for specific economic crimes (fraud). Lee Seung-gi also expressed his intention to donate all unpaid amounts.
[Photo] OSEN DB.
[OSEN]