A claim has emerged that former CEO Min Hee-jin prepared a "buying chart manipulation frame" in advance for ILLIT, the girl group under Belift Lab, before their debut.
On the afternoon of the 11th, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Agreement Division 31 (Director General Nam In-soo) held the second hearing in the lawsuit filed by Min Hee-jin and two others against HYBE seeking payment for stock sales related to the exercise of a put option.
The court also concurrently heard the fourth hearing in HYBE's shareholder contract termination confirmation lawsuit against Min and one other. Former CEO Min Hee-jin attended the trial, and Jung Jin-soo, HYBE chief legal officer (CLO), appeared as a witness.
On that day, Jung Jin-soo, the CLO, after disclosing evidence obtained through an ADOR audit, alleged that former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin planned a "buying chart manipulation frame" for ILLIT even before their debut.
He said, "The documents produced during the audit included Project 1945, which was being prepared by Lee Sang-woo, deputy representative under defendant Min Hee-jin, as well as VP work notes, investigative documents, and HYBE's seven sins. An attachment containing contents exchanged with a shaman was found in Min Hee-jin's work email."
In questioning Jung Jin-soo, HYBE's legal counsel asked, "What do the entries 'Le Sserafim 2/19' and 'ILLIT 3/25' under the music buying chart manipulation item in the Project 1945 document mean?"
Jung Jin-soo, the CLO, said, "2/19 is Le Sserafim's comeback date, and 3/25 is ILLIT's debut date," adding, "In particular, ILLIT hadn't even debuted yet, so it seems they intended to attack with such a frame."
Hearing this, Min Hee-jin said, "The ILLIT copying claim started in communities before it was my personal assertion. Some articles speculated whether this was permissible because it's the same HYBE and the same agency. The plagiarism allegation against ILLIT arose on Mar. 2 when a teaser photo was released. From then on, suspicions saying 'it's not NewJeans' were already being raised."
In response, CLO Jung Jin-soo said, "When anyone debuts, reactions saying 'they're similar to someone' can arise at any time. I don't think that's an authoritative assessment. As far as I know, there hasn't been a legal ruling on plagiarism," and Min Hee-jin pressed, "It's natural for public reaction to appear before a legal ruling, so can the public's judgment be ignored?"
While Jung Jin-soo and former CEO Min Hee-jin argued back and forth over ILLIT, HYBE emphasized that they were not asking about copying allegations but pointing out a buying chart manipulation frame for ILLIT that was planned before their debut.
[Photo] Reporter Park Joon-hyung
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