Police have requested an arrest warrant for Bang Si Hyuk, Chairman of HYBE, on charges of unfair stock trading.
The allegations stem from claims that in 2019, Bang deceived HYBE shareholders about the company’s listing plans, inducing them to sell their shares to private equity funds he was affiliated with. Authorities suspect that HYBE was already in the process of going public at the time, and that Bang subsequently reaped illicit profits of 190 billion won ($129 million) from the private equity funds after the IPO.
The police had previously imposed a travel ban on Bang in August of last year under the Capital Markets Act and have summoned him for questioning five times since then.
However, Bang’s legal team maintains that all actions complied with relevant laws and regulations during the company’s listing period.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that the United States has sent a letter requesting the lifting of the travel ban on Bang Si Hyuk. According to South Korean government officials on April 19th, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul sent a letter to the acting Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency, Yoo Jae Seong, earlier this month, requesting that Bang, along with HYBE CEO Lee Jae Sang and Vice President Kim Hyun Jung, be allowed to visit the United States.
The U.S. Embassy’s letter reportedly cited the upcoming 250th anniversary of American Independence Day celebrations on July 4th and support for BTS’s U.S. tour as reasons for seeking the lifting of the travel ban for Bang and the others.
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