[Comprehensive] Cha Ga-won, who once held Lee Seung-gi and The Boyz, ultimately arrested.. Prosecutors cite "risk of evidence destruction"

*This content was translated by AI.

Cha Ga-won, chairman of PIAK Group and CEO of entertainment agency One Hundred Label, has been arrested.

On the 3rd, Judge Bu Dong-sik, presiding judge of the Specialized Warrant Division at Seoul Central District Court, issued an arrest warrant for Cha Ga-won, who faces charges including fraud under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, stating there is "a risk of evidence destruction."

Cha Ga-won is suspected of proposing a business using the intellectual property (IP) of artists under his agency to Knowmerce Co., Ltd., signing a contract, receiving a large advance payment, but failing to fulfill the actual business. The scale of damage is reported to be approximately 30 billion won.

Police believe that Cha Ga-won concealed this fact from Knowmerce and entered into a double contract despite the expectation that a pre-existing agreement with another company would soon expire, and that he was not prepared to carry out the business.

Additionally, it is reported that police have identified circumstances suggesting Cha Ga-won started the entertainment agency business while burdened with massive debt and later engaged in debt-shifting through contract splitting.

However, Cha Ga-won's side completely denies all allegations, claiming they arose during a hostile mergers and acquisitions (M&A) process surrounding him.

In this regard, police searched and seized Big Planet Mate Entertainment, a subsidiary of One Hundred Label, in April, and summoned Cha Ga-won as a suspect for investigation in May.

On the morning of the 3rd around 9:27 a.m., Cha Ga-won appeared at the court with his lawyers. When asked by reporters which points he would focus on to explain, Cha Ga-won replied, "I will answer diligently and return." Regarding questions such as "What is the reason for not proceeding with the business after receiving an advance payment?" and "What is the basis for believing that fraud charges do not hold?", he gave no further response and immediately entered the courthouse.

After the arrest review, which lasted about two hours and 40 minutes, Cha Ga-won remained silent when reporters asked what he had explained and whether he admitted to the allegations as he left the courthouse.

Cha Ga-won is currently involved in multiple legal disputes with various artists. Amid controversy over unpaid settlement funds, major artists including The Boyz, Lee Moo-jin, Lee Seung-gi, former members of Girl's Day VIVIZ (Eunha, SinB, Umji), and EXO-CBX (Chen, Baekhyun, Xiumin) have issued notices terminating their exclusive contracts and filed for provisional injunctions, facing a large-scale exodus.

Cha Ga-won co-founded the One Hundred Label label with singer MC Mong in December 2023. Since then, the two leveraged immense capital to sequentially acquire and absorb Big Planet Made Entertainment, Million Market, and even INB100, which houses EXO-CBX, rapidly growing into a new powerhouse in the entertainment industry within a short period.

However, Cha Ga-won and MC Mong's bold moves began to falter in June last year when MC Mong was suddenly excluded from all operations. Following this, rumors of an illicit affair emerged alongside circumstances suggesting hundreds of billions of won in abnormal financial transactions between Cha Ga-won, who is married, and MC Mong, causing significant public outcry.

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*This content was translated by AI.