Supposed Mastermind Behind Bang Si Hyuk’s Alleged Financial Crime Goes Into Hiding

As per an exclusive report by The Korea Economic Daily, Kim Joong Dong, the former Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of HYBE, who supposedly orchestrated and planned the profit distribution through HYBE’s IPO with Bang Si Hyuk, has gone into hiding.

The report claimed that Kim, who is a US citizen, is residing overseas and has refused to respond to investigation requests from both the police and financial authorities. He oversaw projects bridging Chairman Bang and the capital markets, and is said to have earned a massive profit of ₩100 billion KRW (about $69.6 million USD) as a result.

While the police have questioned four to five other suspects involved with Bang, Kim Joong Dong, considered the most important accomplice, left for the US in June and has not responded to any police summonses. Interestingly, that very month, the police raided HYBE and officially began investigating Bang Si Hyuk and others for stock manipulation. It is being reported that Kim Joong Dong’s actions might be considered as an attempt to destroy evidence by the police.

Kim and Bang became acquaintances in 2017, when the former was working at SV Investment and had invested ₩3.00 billion KRW (about $2.09 million USD) in BIGHIT MUSIC (then Big Hit Entertainment). Immediately after this investment, Kim became the CIO at BIGHIT and continued in the role till May 2019.

After leaving BIGHIT, he immediately joined the controversial Eastone Fund and purchased shares from existing HYBE shareholders at a bargain price of ₩30,000 KRW (about $20.90 USD) each. At this point, Lee Seung Seok, the CEO of HYBE HSB, also joined Kim’s Eastone Fund.

Eastone Fund purchased a total of ₩130 billion KRW (about $90.5 million USD) worth of shares and then, on the very first day of HYBE’s listing, sold all their holdings, earning around ₩600 billion KRW (about $418 million USD) in profits. Out of that, ₩190 billion KRW (about $132 million USD) went directly to Bang Si Hyuk.

What’s peculiar is that Eastone Fund Equity Partners, after making such high profits, closed down the very next year in 2021. Until then, the only funds operated by the entity were used to acquire shares from HYBE’s original shareholders. It is being said that the fund was created solely for Bang Si Hyuk and his close associates to acquire shares from those shareholders at an undervalued price. Kim Joong Dong returned to HYBE as a CIO in March 2020 and accelerated the IPO, applying for preliminary listing approval in May.

This report has raised major alarms among the public about Bang Si Hyuk and other HYBE executives who were allegedly involved in this elaborate scheme.

• “Wow, they really pocketed it all.”
• “These days, the embezzlement cases are so big that even a few billion won sounds like pocket change.”
• “Chills…”
• “I hope the con artist B gets a heavy sentence as an example to others.”
• “Those scammers should be given life behind bars. F*ckers.”
• “Seriously, when will their downfall come?”