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HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk undergoes over 12 hours of questioning in stock trading case

Published: 23 Sep. 2025, 09:50

HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk appears at the Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in western Seoul on Sept. 15. [YONHAP]

HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk returned home around 10:34 p.m. on Monday after undergoing 12 and a half hours of police questioning over allegations that he misled shareholders during the company's initial public offering process to gain illicit profits.

Bang appeared at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Financial Crimes Investigation Division in Mapo District, western Seoul, for a closed-door session at 10 a.m. earlier in the day. The session ended just after 10:30 p.m.

Bang exited the building without responding to questions from reporters. He left in a car accompanied by a security guard.

This marks the second round of questioning by police and came just one week after his previous summons.

Police suspect that in 2019, Bang falsely told HYBE shareholders that there were no plans for a public listing, while secretly arranging for a private equity fund linked to him to acquire company shares.

HYBE was, at the time, already moving forward with the IPO process, and police suspect Bang may have secured 190 billion won ($137 million) in profits from the private equity fund following the company’s market debut.

Under the Capital Markets Act, it is illegal to obtain financial gains or exploit insider information through false statements related to unlisted shares and similar assets.

Bang’s legal representatives maintain that all laws and regulations were followed at the time of the listing.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SHIN HYE-YEON [[email protected]]