HYBE is facing serious backlash after a legal document surfaced showing the company allegedly siphoned off nearly ₩4.1 billion KRW (~$2.95 million USD) from NewJeans‘ collaboration with PUBG: Battlegrounds.
The contract with Krafton was worth ₩10 billion KRW (~$7.19 million USD), but HYBE’s subsidiary reportedly skimmed off that large chunk of the money. After being caught, the company refunded about ₩1.6 billion KRW (~$1.15 million USD).
This scandal connects with previous reports accusing HYBE of “stealing” from their subsidiary ADOR to inflate revenue for HYBE IM.
According to community site users, the siphoned amount was initially ₩500 million KRW (~$360,000 USD) before swelling to ₩4.1 billion KRW after Min Hee Jin stepped down as ADOR’s CEO.
This is happening amid a broader investigation by the National Tax Service’s Investigation Bureau 4, which raided HYBE’s Seoul HQ on July 29 without warning. The company is one of 27 entities under scrutiny for tax evasion and stock market manipulation.
The leaked legal document has sparked outrage online. Fans and netizens are stunned by the scale of the alleged misconduct.
“Whoa. Is this real or fake?”
“Is this real? Dmn.”
— “If this is real, they’re fcking gangsters. Why is there nothing likable about that company?”
“Why are they taking away so much money?”
“With Min Hee Jin gone, they thought they could just do anything.”
“Whoa…”
