Bang Si-hyuk, chair of HYBE, who is suspected of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, returned home on the 5th after about 13 hours of police questioning.
Bang appeared at the Financial Crimes Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency at 10 a.m. and left the building at 11:15 p.m. after completing questioning. To reporters' questions such as "Is the allegation of unjust enrichment true?" and "Do you admit deceiving investors?", Bang did not answer and got into a vehicle.
Bang had previously appeared before police twice, on Sept. 15 and Sept. 22. After analyzing the investigation materials through today, police are expected to review whether to seek an arrest warrant for Bang.
Bang is suspected of deceiving existing shareholders during the process of purchasing shares from them before HYBE's 2019 listing, by making it seem as if the listing would be delayed even though HYBE was preparing to go public at the time.
The crux is that after falsely saying there were no plans to list, shareholders were induced to sell their shares to a private equity fund (PEF) manager established with an investment from a HYBE executive. After HYBE listed, the PEF manager sold the shares it held, and under a shareholders' agreement, Bang, HYBE's largest shareholder, obtained about 190 billion won, which is 30% of the capital gain.
In connection with this, on June 30 and July 24 this year, police raided the Korea Exchange (KRX) and HYBE headquarters, and also imposed an overseas travel ban on Bang. Bang's position is that there are no legal issues because the relevant laws and regulations were observed at the time of the company's listing.
The Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act prohibits acts such as obtaining property gains through lies or using improper schemes in connection with financial investment products, including unlisted shares. Violations that yield profits of 5 billion won or more are punishable by life imprisonment or at least five years in prison.