The K

Bang Si-hyuk (in the center) is the man behind the hugely popular pop group BTS, made up of seven members.Image: Instagram

The founder of the agency to which the group BTS belongs is facing an arrest warrant for investor fraud. This setback comes at a time when the boy band is on a global tour.

While the K-pop star group BTS has been on a world tour since April 9, playing to sold-out venues, it is the magnate of Korean pop, Bang Si-hyuk, through Hybe Corporation, on whom the boy band owes its existence, that is now in the spotlight.

As reported by the BBC, Bang Si-hyuk could be arrested for fraud before his company, valued at $7.3 billion, went public. He is suspected of illegally making nearly 100 million Swiss francs through an investor fraud scheme.

The businessman is being investigated for allegedly misleading investors in 2019 by downplaying Hybe company’s plans to go public, while secretly preparing for it. He is said to have had no intention of going public and encouraged his financiers to sell their shares to a private equity fund he was linked to, before the company eventually went public in 2020.

Bang Si-hyuk, president of Hybe, on August 28, 2023 in Santa Monica, CaliforniaImage: Billboard

Police believe that this fund paid Bang Si-hyuk around 200 billion won (about 105 million CHF) in a parallel agreement promising him 30% of the profits made from the sale of shares. The investigation has led to searches at Hybe company’s headquarters, freezing of some of its assets, and calls for him to resign from his position as president of the company.

These legal disputes have put the company in turmoil as its golden goose, the BTS boy band, embarks on a world tour after four years of absence. With 85 planned concerts in 34 cities worldwide, BTS’s tour could surpass the revenue of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour,” which was already a record-breaking tour.