Major K-Pop Label’s CEO Gets Arrested For Alleged Fraud

The CEO of ONE HUNDRED, a major K-entertainment company, has been arrested on charges of fraud.

According to reports, on August 3 (KST), the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for CEO Cha Ga Won, who is facing charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment etc of Specific Economic Crimes. She is reportedly being detained at the Seoul Mapo Police Station.

Cha stands accused of proposing a business venture to a company called Knowmerce Corp., using the intellectual property (IP) of the artists under her agency. She reportedly signed a contract and received an advanced payment of ₩24.2 billion KRW (about $16.9 million USD) but failed to carry out the business. Investigation revealed that the total scale of the alleged fraud was around ₩30.0 billion KRW (about $21.0 million USD), since she also received a ₩5.40 billion KRW (about $3.78 million USD) deposit from an acquaintance under the pretext of entering into a “jeonse” contract and then failing to honor the agreement.

The Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, which investigated the case, had previously requested an arrest warrant for CEO Cha from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office twice in June last year. However, both requests were rejected. Consequently, the police filed a third request for an arrest warrant last month and, during the process, they collaborated with the prosecution on additional investigative measures, such as tracking CEO Cha’s accounts and further analyzing contractual relationships. On July 27, the Human Rights Protection Department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office summoned CEO Cha for a pre-arrest warrant interview and subsequently requested an arrest warrant for her the following day. During the interview, she reportedly argued that she would have been able to repay all advance payments and other obligations had the business actually proceeded as planned.

Since Cha Ga Won’s arrest warrant was issued citing a risk of evidence destruction, she is expected to be detained until the necessary investigation is over.

Meanwhile, Cha Ga Won has been involved in multiple controversies in recent months, including a dating rumor with EXO‘s Baekhyun and allegations related to Lee Sung Gi‘s luxury villa.

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