The police investigating the fraudulent trading allegations against HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk have launched a search and seizure operation at HYBE.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Financial Crimes Investigation Team stated that they are conducting a search and seizure operation at HYBE's headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, starting around 9 a.m. today.
Chairman Bang is accused of misleading existing investors, including venture capitalists, before the IPO in 2019 into believing that the public offering plan would be delayed, and then causing HYBE executives to sell equity to a special purpose corporation (SPC) established by a private equity fund (PEF) they created.
Chairman Bang is facing allegations of receiving illegal profits amounting to 190 billion won, including 30% of the proceeds from the sale by the private equity fund after the IPO.
Meanwhile, a police official noted that on the 21st, they requested the prosecution to transfer the case to avoid overlapping investigations with the prosecutors, who received a complaint about the same incident from the financial authorities. The prosecution received the complaint against Chairman Bang on the 18th and allocated the case to the Financial Securities Crime Joint Investigation Department of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office.