Prosecutors have once again rejected a police request for an arrest warrant against HYBE chairman Bang Si Hyuk amid an ongoing investigation tied to the company’s IPO process.
On May 7th, the Joint Investigation Team for Financial and Securities Crimes of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office confirmed it had dismissed the warrant request resubmitted by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency the day before.
“After reviewing the arrest warrant request, we determined that the additional investigative steps we requested had not been completed,” prosecutors stated.
Police declined to comment.
The latest decision comes after police refiled the warrant request on April 30th, just six days after prosecutors first returned it while requesting further investigation into alleged fraudulent unfair trading under South Korea’s Capital Markets Act.
At the time, prosecutors said there was not yet sufficient evidence to justify detention.
Bang is accused of misleading HYBE investors in 2019 by allegedly claiming the company had no plans to go public, while encouraging them to sell shares to a private equity fund tied to him before HYBE later moved forward with its IPO.
Police believe Bang later received roughly 190 billion KRW (approximately 130 million USD) through a confidential agreement tied to 30% of the fund’s post-IPO profits, with total alleged unfair gains estimated at around 260 billion KRW.
Under South Korea’s Capital Markets Act, profits exceeding 5 billion KRW obtained through fraudulent financial practices can carry penalties ranging from a minimum of five years in prison to life imprisonment.
Police reportedly launched an internal investigation into Bang in late 2024 before escalating the case with raids on HYBE and the Korea Exchange in June and July last year.
Authorities later banned Bang from leaving the country after his return from the U.S. in early August, questioned him five times between September and November, and froze HYBE shares worth approximately 156.8 billion KRW.
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