Authorities in South Korea announced yesterday that they are pursuing an arrest warrant for Bang Si-Hyuk, the chairman of the agency behind global K-pop sensation BTS, as part of an expanding investigation into allegations of a fraudulent scheme that reportedly netted him over $100 million from investors.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has confirmed that it has requested prosecutors to seek a court order for Bang’s arrest.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Bang’s legal representatives did not directly address the allegations but expressed disappointment that law enforcement is pursuing his arrest despite what they describe as full cooperation throughout the investigation. “We will continue to engage with all legal processes and strive to clarify our position,” the statement read.
Bang, who has been prohibited from leaving South Korea since August, is under scrutiny for allegedly misleading investors in 2019 by claiming that Hybe had no intentions of going public. This led investors to divest their shares to a private equity fund before the company launched its initial public offering (IPO). Investigators believe that the fund may have compensated Bang approximately 200 billion won ($136 million) in a side agreement, which promised him 30% of the profits from stock sales post-IPO.
Hybe officials maintain that Bang denies any allegations of misconduct.
The legal predicament poses a significant public relations challenge for Hybe, coinciding with BTS’s return to the stage after a nearly four-year break during which its seven members completed mandatory military service, a requirement for most able-bodied males in South Korea.
Last month, BTS performed before tens of thousands at a free comeback concert in Seoul and has since held multiple shows in Goyang and Tokyo. The group is set to launch a series of concerts in the U.S., starting with an event in Tampa, Florida, later this month.
Bang, who established Hybe (formerly Big Hit Entertainment) in 2005, is recognized as one of the most influential figures in the K-pop industry. He has leveraged BTS’s global success to transform his company into an international music powerhouse.
In 2021, Hybe made headlines by acquiring Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings for approximately $1 billion, gaining management rights to artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.
Despite boasting a roster that includes some of K-pop’s leading acts such as Seventeen, Le Sserafim, and Katseye alongside BTS, Hybe has faced internal challenges in recent years. Notably, tensions flared between Bang and star producer Min Hee-Jin over the popular girl group NewJeans.
The conflict began in 2024 when Hybe attempted to remove Min as CEO of Ador, the subsidiary responsible for NewJeans, accusing her of illegally trying to seize control of the company. Min Hee-Jin retaliated by alleging that Bang had treated her unfairly and undermined NewJeans in favor of other groups.
The dispute escalated to the courts, with members of NewJeans, who regard Min as a mentor, attempting to exit the label following her ousting. However, a court ruling last year mandated that they honor their contracts through 2029.
Bang’s passion for music started at a young age. He was part of a band in middle school that performed songs he wrote, while a budding songwriting career began in his university years.
In 1997, Bang co-founded JYP Entertainment with singer-songwriter Park Jin-young. Like Hybe, JYP is today one of the “big four” K-pop conglomerates.
One of Bang’s and Park’s early successes was first-generation group g.o.d, which earned them a reputation as hit composers and gave Bang the nickname “Hitman Bang”.
In 2005, Bang left JYP to start his own venture, Big Hit Entertainment, known today as Hybe. He began creating a seven-member boy group in 2010, but it took a few years for BTS, as we know it today, to take shape.
The group was initially conceived as a hip-hop crew, but Bang decided to adopt a “K-pop idol model” after considering “the business context”, he told Time in an interview in 2019.
In the years since their launch, BTS has gone on to become among the most successful pop groups in history, including being the first Korean act to top Billboard’s Hot 100 and the first Asian group to surpass five billion streams on Spotify.
Shares in Big Hit Entertainment debuted in October 2020 at $235 a piece, more than doubling the initial public offering price of $110.
In 2019, Bloomberg put Bang’s net worth at about $770m – this has since skyrocketed to more than $2bn. As of last month, Bang held more than 13 million Hybe shares, valued at nearly 5 trillion won, according to the Korea CXO Research Institute, a Seoul-based corporate analysis firm.
By: Magdalene Agyeiwaa Sarpong