According to legal industry insiders on December 5 KST, the Seoul Southern District Court has approved of a request by the Seoul Prosecutor's Office to freeze Bang Si Hyuk's assets in HYBE Labels, amounting to 156.8 billion KRW (~ 106.7 million USD).
For insiders, the move to freeze an accused individual's assets in a financial crime case indicates that investigators have ample justification for that individual's indictment, and that indictment will proceed soon. Assets are frozen in such cases so that individuals who profited illegally through a financial crime cannot dispose of their acquired profits before the crime is recognized.
However, HYBE Labels has stated that it would be an overestimation to predict that this recent move positioned Bang Si Hyuk closer to indictment.
Meanwhile, Bang Si Hyuk is broadly facing charges for 2 unlawful trade practices. First, Bang Si Hyuk lied to initial investors about his plans to list HYBE Labels as a public company. He then purchased those shares from initial investors at a low cost, then profited from the inflated cost of those shares after HYBE's public offering. Second, the chairman is facing allegations of acquiring profit through shares purchased via private equity funds.
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