Broadcaster Park Na-rae faced further controversy after explaining alleged power harassment when allegations of embezzlement were additionally raised.
On the 5th, Ilgan Sports reported that Park Na-rae had been accused of embezzlement. According to the report, that afternoon Park Na-rae's former managers filed a complaint with the Seoul Gangnam Police Station accusing Park Na-rae of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (embezzlement).
They alleged that Park Na-rae, as the de facto representative of the one-person agency A&Park, repeatedly committed embezzlement over a long period by arbitrarily using company funds for personal purposes unrelated to business and leaking funds externally.
According to the complaint, Park Na-rae is said to have falsely listed her boyfriend Mr. A as an official employee and paid approximately 44 million won in total as monthly salaries over 11 months from January to November this year. In addition, it is alleged that around August this year Park Na-rae transferred about 300 million won from a company account to help Mr. A raise a key money deposit for a jeonse lease. It is also claimed that Park Na-rae's mother, the representative of A&Park Inc., was falsely listed as an official employee despite not actually providing labor and was paid a total of about 55 million won over 11 months as monthly salaries.
The complaint is also reported to contain claims that Park Na-rae used about 10 million won from the company account at minimum from January through last November for personal dwelling management fees and personal item purchases.
Earlier, Park Na-rae's former managers filed an application for provisional seizure of real estate at the Seoul Western District Court on the 3rd, claiming power harassment and injury, and warned of a lawsuit seeking about 10 million won in damages. At that time, the former managers alleged that Park Na-rae made managers wait 24 hours by ordering errands for snacks, cleaning up after parties, forcing them to attend drinking gatherings, and even entrusted family tasks, using them as domestic helpers.
They also alleged that she verbally abused a manager who did not drink and threw a drinking glass, causing injury. They exposed issues such as proxy prescriptions and unpaid production fees. It later emerged that although Park Na-rae had effectively worked for more than a year at A&Park Inc., which was established by her mother, the company had not registered for cultural and performing arts planning, amplifying the fallout.
In response, Park Na-rae's side issued an official statement saying that two employees who worked with Park Na-rae for about one year and three months recently left the company, and the company properly paid their severance. However, after receiving severance, the employees demanded an additional amount equivalent to 10% of the company's previous year's sales, they said, adding that registration for cultural and performing arts planning was the responsibility of the former employees who raised the issue and that those employees falsely reported at the time that the registration procedures had been completed. They said the employees leaked such information to the media after leaving, and the company learned of the situation accurately through related news inquiries, accusing the claims of malicious slander.
They added that as time passed the former employees kept adding new claims and continued to pressure Park Na-rae and the company, and the amount demanded gradually increased to several hundred million won. They said Park Na-rae has suffered great emotional distress and mental shock due to the sudden resignation of employees who worked with her, baseless claims that followed, increasing monetary demands, and media pressure. They stated that the company and Park Na-rae recognize operational shortcomings and have no intention of evading responsibility for any mistakes, and that they will reveal the truth through legal action.
It has been reported that Park Na-rae actually filed a criminal complaint against the former managers who raised the allegations on charges including extortion. But after she explained the power harassment allegations, new allegations of embezzlement emerged, and the noise surrounding Park Na-rae is expected to continue for some time.
Meanwhile, according to OSEN reporting, Park Na-rae plans to carry out her entertainment schedule as planned without suspending activities despite the conflict with her former managers. Park Na-rae currently appears on MBC I Live Alone, Save Me! Homes, and tvN Amazing Saturday, and she appeared in the broadcasts of Save Me! Homes and I Live Alone that aired immediately after the controversy without being edited out. Although the recording of the MBC new variety show Nado Sinha scheduled for the 5th was canceled, prompting speculation that it was due to the controversy, Nado Sinha's side dismissed that, saying the cancellation had been decided earlier and was unrelated to the controversy.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]