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BTS’ agency HYBE chairman and founder Bang Si-Hyuk has been accused of alleged capital market violations involving the company’s IPO process. For those who don’t know, this case dates back to 2020, before HYBE entered the stock market and operated as Big Hit Entertainment. According to many reports that surfaced from investigative sectors, the chairman had allegedly signed a few confidential shareholder agreements with private equity firms.
Before HYBE was publicly listed, these agreements were made, including Stick Investment, Eastone Equity Partners, and Newmain Equity. Bang was supposed to get 30% of the capital gains if the company went public within the given deadline. Upon failing, the chairman was supposed to purchase the shares at their original price. While HYBE went public, Bang reportedly received 400 billion KRW.
During the IPO process, these agreements were not disclosed, and because of omitting this information, it impacted the share prices. Early investors started to claim that they suffered financial loss. As the public interference built up, financial regulators and law enforcement issued separate investigations into the matter. On July 9 (via Pinkvilla), the financial regulators officially stated that the Capital Market Investigation Deliberation Committee (CMIDC) has reviewed the case.
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The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has concluded that HYBE’s Chairman, Bang Si-hyuk, engaged in fraudulent and unfair trading in violation of the Capital Markets Act during HYBE’s IPO process.
In 2019, Bang misled existing investors by stating there were no plans for a… pic.twitter.com/uNburYbU4z
— luna ୨ৎ (@luenacore) July 4, 2025
