CoKo Entertainment to shut down due to debt from former co-CEO's embezzlement

CoKo Entertainment and its founder comedian Kim Jun Ho have announced that the agency will shut down due to surmounting debt brought on by its former co-CEO Kim Woo Jong's embezzlement.

Although the comedians and entertainers listed under the agency had said they would stay by Kim Jun Ho's side until this matter was resolved, it seems that the comedian and other board members decided that it was in the best interest of everyone to shut down the company. The agency revealed that they will be using the remaining funds to distribute it to the comedians they housed and the lacking amount will be reimbursed to them by Kim Jun Ho's own private fund.

The agency wrote in their official press release,

"Hello, It's CoKo Entertainment.
We sincerely thank those who took a lot of interest in CoKo Entertainment up until now.

But we have come to deliver bad news so our hearts are not at peace.
There have been a lot of press releases, articles, and broadcasting on CoKo Entertainment up until now so we have come to clarify the news with our statement, and address our next step.

As stated in the previous press release, CoKo Entertainment CEO Kim Woo Jung continuously didn't keep his promise by not paying the agency comedians their advance and appearance fees. We then determined that CoKo Entertainment had an internal, financial issue so after conducting a financial inspection, we became aware of CEO Kim's embezzlement. CEO Kim then embezzled the rest of the company funds used for paying the agency comedians, executives, and staff, and fled to the States.

CoKo Entertainment's major shareholders pressed charges against CEO Kim for embezzlement, and sent evidence of Mr. Kim's embezzlement over the years to the police. The executives did their best to revive CoKo Entertainment.
But following CEO Mr. Kim's escape overseas, CoKo Entertainment was faced with contingent liability with the unforeseen-debt amount adding up to several billion KRW as of January 2015.

The directors who were filling in for the CoKo Entertainment CEO decided that it was no longer possible to revive CoKo Entertainment, and decided to shut down the company.

Meanwhile, content CEO Kim Jun Ho is trying to lessen the financial strain on the hoobae comedians by resolving the unpaid-appearance-fee issue, and CEO Kim Jun Ho already paid some of them their appearance fees at his own expense. CoKo Entertainment will do their best to resolve the non-payment issue among executives and staff as soon as possible.