HYBE Faces Surprise Tax Audit Amid Allegations of Unfair Practices

HYBE has been unexpectedly subjected to a tax audit by the National Tax Service.

According to Field News on the 29th, the National Tax Service has launched a planned tax investigation targeting 27 entities accused of manipulating the stock market for unfair gains, with HYBE included in this probe.

On this day, the Investigation Bureau 4 of the Seoul Regional Tax Office deployed investigators to HYBE's headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, without prior notice, securing related documents.

This tax audit of HYBE marks the first in three years since June 2022. At that time, the Investigation Bureau 1 of the Seoul Tax Office conducted a regular tax audit on HYBE, resulting in the collection of taxes amounting to billions of KRW.

Meanwhile, Bang Si-hyuk, the chairman of HYBE, is under investigation for allegedly misleading venture capitalists and other initial investors about the delay in the company's IPO plans before its listing in 2019. He is accused of selling shares to a special purpose company established by a private equity fund set up by HYBE executives, in violation of the Capital Markets Act.

The investigation into Chairman Bang is being conducted simultaneously by the Financial Crimes Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and special judicial police officers from the Financial Supervisory Service under the direction of the prosecution.

Although the police began their investigation in December last year, they faced two rejections of their search warrant applications before finally obtaining one on their third attempt. On the 24th, they executed a search and seizure at HYBE's headquarters. The prosecution received a complaint against Chairman Bang from financial authorities on the 18th and assigned the case to the Financial Securities Crime Joint Investigation Division of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office.

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This article was originally published in Korean on Xportsnews and was translated into English using AI.