Home > National > Social Affairs

Composer who defrauded investors of $8.8 million through BTS jeans scheme sentenced to prison

Published: 16 Apr. 2026, 10:07

Suwon District Court in Suwon, Gyeonggi, is seen in this file photo [YONHAP]

A composer who defrauded investors of 1.3 billion won ($8.8 million) by falsely claiming to have ties to HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk was sentenced to six years in prison in an appellate ruling.

The Suwon High Court dismissed the composer’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s ruling on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, according to the legal community on Wednesday.

The composer, who ran a music distribution business, was indicted in August 2021 for deceiving investors, including the head of an information technology firm, at an office in Hanam, Gyeonggi.

The composer told the investors of their plans to run “a business to produce and sell [boy band] BTS-themed jeans,” which would have been released as fan merch, and swindled 750 million won.

To further convince investors, the composer claimed to have ties to Bang.

“Chairman Bang is an acquaintance of mine,” the defendant was quoted as saying. “We are already selling BTS products through another company, in which I have secured a 50 percent stake, so let’s bring the license to our corporation and run an exclusive business.”

The composer also received an additional 550 million won, which they said would be used to lobby a HYBE team leader.

HYBE's headquarters in Yongsan District, central Seoul, is seen on Nov. 5, 2024. [YONHAP]

Investigators found that the composer had never acquired a stake in the mentioned company and had not even discussed the jeans business with HYBE.

The court determined that the crime of using BTS’s intellectual property as bait to extract large sums of money was serious.

“The defendant deceived victims into believing a business could be carried out through personal connections that did not exist and extracted large sums of money,” the lower court stated. “The defendant shows no remorse and continues to deny the charges with explanations that are difficult to accept.”

The appellate court also rejected the appeal.

“The lower court’s guilty verdict is justified, and there have been no significant changes in sentencing conditions since the ruling.”

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 PARK JONG-SUH [[email protected]]