According to Hankyung Korea's website reported on June 3, 2025, public opinion in this country was shocked by the news that the chairman of HYBE Group is being investigated for fraud related to the company's stock listing (IPO).
The Financial Supervisory Board of Korea (FSS) is promoting the transfer of the file to the prosecution agency with a proposal to prosecute.
Police suspect that in 2019, Mr. Bang Si Hyuk incorrectly informed shareholders that HYBE had no plans to list shares, causing many people to sell their shares. However, not long after, HYBE officially issued shares in October 2020.
Mr. Bang was previously said to have signed a profit-taking agreement of up to 30% with private investment funds, earning about 400 billion won (about 7.4 trillion VND), but did not disclose these terms in his IPO documents.
If the allegations are confirmed, Bang Si Hyuk could face a prison sentence of 5 years or more, or even life in prison if the illegal profits exceed 5 billion won, according to Korean capital market law.
The incident sparked outrage in the Army - fanclub community of BTS. They asked the guys to leave HYBE because they were worried that the incident would directly affect the group, especially as BTS was preparing to return after the members completed their military service in June 2025.
Bang Si Hyuk is the founder and Chairman of HYBE Entertainment Group - the management company of BTS.
Known as Hitman Bang, Bang Si Hyuk is one of the most powerful and wealthy figures in the Korean entertainment industry.
Talking about Bang Si Hyuk's career, he started to enter music when he was a student at Seoul National University.
In 1997, Bang Si Hyuk collaborated with Park Jin Young at JYP Entertainment, creating many hits for famous artists at that time such as G.O.D, Rain and Baek Ji Young.
In 2005, Bang founded Big Hit Entertainment (later changed to HYBE) but 2 years later, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. The biggest boost in Bang's career was meeting RM - the leader of BTS later. From RM and 6 other members of BTS, Bang formed the globally famous BTS group.
From BTS's success beyond borders, the HYBE president has expanded its operations by acquiring companies such as Source Music, Pledis Entertainment and Ithaca Holdings, the management company of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.
Bang Si Hyuk is the chairman of HYBE Corporation and the largest shareholder of the company, holding about 31.5% of the company's shares. His assets mainly come from shares in HYBE - where famous music groups such as BTS, SEVENTEEN, NewJeans... are trained and managed.
bringing the company to the Korean stock exchange in October 2020 has helped him become the first billionaire in the K-Pop industry. According to Forbes, at that time, Bang Si Hyuk was listed as the 50 richest people in Korea in 2021.
The billionaire's assets have fluctuated over the years. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of July 2021, his net worth is estimated at around 3.2 billion USD.
In 2022, Forbes ranked him 12th in the list of 50 richest people in Korea. But according to Forbes, as of August 13, 2024, the figure had fallen to $1.5 billion. This may explain why BTS temporarily stopped performing in June 2022 when the members performed their military service.
According to data from April 2024, Bang Si Hyuk is currently ranked 17th in the list of the richest people in Korea. He is also the 4th richest person in the Korean media and entertainment industry.
