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This isn’t the first time Lee Seung-gi has gone to war with a company over money he says he’s owed. The actor and singer, who spent years fighting his former agency, Hook Entertainment, over unpaid music royalties totaling 18 years, is now entangled in a new and considerably messier dispute involving a luxury villa, a jeonse deposit worth millions, and yet another agency exit. Here’s everything that’s happened so far.
How the Latest Dispute Started
In April 2026, allkpop reported that Lee Seung-gi’s team announced he was terminating his exclusive contract with his agency, citing unpaid settlements owed to him and, more pressingly, unpaid wages owed to the staff and outside partners who support his work. His representatives framed the move as unavoidable, saying it was meant to protect on-site staff from further financial harm rather than an act of self-interest. Lee reportedly notified the agency of his intent to leave as early as late March, after what his team described as a prolonged breakdown of trust.
The Villa at the Center of the Storm
The dispute deepened once it became linked to a separate and much larger financial entanglement: a luxury villa in Seoul’s Hannam-dong neighborhood tied to Cha Ga-won, chairman of One Hundred Label and Fierce Group. Lee had signed a jeonse lease, a Korean rental arrangement involving a massive lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent, for the property, financing roughly 7.3 billion won (about $5.1 million) of that deposit through a bank loan.
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Cha’s side had initially agreed to cover the interest payments on that loan, but those payments reportedly stopped once other unpaid financial obligations involving Cha-affiliated companies came to light. To complicate matters further, the villa was seized earlier this year by South Korea’s National Tax Service over Cha’s own unpaid tax arrears.
Accusations Fly on Both Sides
Allkpop reported that Lee’s legal team has been direct in blaming Cha for the situation, alleging that his contract termination was a direct result of unpaid settlements. The team also claimed that Lee ultimately paid outstanding staff wages out of his own pocket after the agency failed to do so.
Star News Korea then reported that Cha’s legal representative pushed back publicly, releasing alleged messenger conversations and arguing that Lee himself proposed the jeonse arrangement to avoid tax regulations tied to owning multiple properties and denying any wrongdoing around how the villa’s lease value was appraised. Both sides have accused the other of misrepresenting the terms of their original agreement, and the back-and-forth has played out largely through dueling statements and YouTube broadcasts from opposing lawyers.
Where Things Stand Now
The situation reached a new hurdle on August 6, 2026, when Lee’s lease on the Hannam-dong villa officially expired. His representatives say they received assurances the deposit would be returned in full by that date, but have warned they’ll pursue the strongest possible civil and criminal action if that promise isn’t honored.
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