The Seoul Southern District Court has decided to freeze approximately 1.568 billion won worth of HYBE shares owned by Bang Si Hyuk. This decision was made on November 19, 2025 and only revealed on December 4, 2025.
According to legal experts, the Seoul Southern District Court granted a request for "provisional seizure" from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office. Provisional seizure is a procedure to prevent a defendant from disposing of assets suspected of being the proceeds of crime before a court ruling becomes final and binding.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Department's Financial Crimes Investigation Team is investigating Bang Si Hyuk for alleged violations of the Korean Capital Market Act, specifically "fraudulent irregular transactions."
Police suspect that in 2019, before HYBE (then Big Hit Entertainment) went public in October 2020, Bang Si Hyuk concealed its IPO plans from existing shareholders.
He allegedly convinced them that there were "no plans for an IPO in the near future," so the investors would sell their shares at a low price to a special purpose company (SPC) formed by a private equity fund (PEF) established by HYBE executives.
Following the successful IPO and soaring stock prices, the PEF reaped substantial profits from the sale of shares. Bang Si Hyuk is alleged to have signed a shareholder agreement with the PEF, which stipulated that he would receive approximately 30% of the proceeds from the sale.
Bang Si Hyuk's total profits are estimated at 120 billion won, while those of other executives reached over 190 billion won. Among the investors affected were many large financial institutions, including the National Pension Service of Korea.
To date, the police investigation is ongoing, and no suspects have been officially named. The decision to freeze the shares indicates that investigators believe there is sufficient evidence to support the alleged illegal profiteering.
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