HYBE, the K-pop Conglomerate Known as a “Mafia” mindlenews.com/news/articleV… — Kim Sung-soo, cultural critic Accounting fraud allegations, attacks on artists, manipulation of public opinion… While so-called legacy media outlets have thoroughly turned a blind eye, two issues that could place an enormous burden on the entire K-culture industry have been covered as exclusives by NewTamsa. The first concerns allegations of accounting fraud involving Ithaca Holdings, which was acquired by HYBE America, HYBE’s U.S. subsidiary. The second involves allegations of severe artist-targeted attacks linked to a marketing company called TAG PR, connected to Scooter Braun, who served as CEO of Ithaca Holdings and remained a HYBE board director until early July of this year. Notably, TAG PR itself was acquired by HYBE on September 11, 2024. After Scooter Braun was “cut loose,” HYBE reportedly hurried to divest its stake in the company. These two issues are also connected to HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk, who, despite being summoned for police questioning five times, has not been arrested. They are not unrelated to the allegations currently under police investigation. Moreover, each of these suspicions rises to the level of serious corporate crime. The situation has become so grave that overseas critics have already begun referring to HYBE by the nickname “the K-pop Mafia.” Several Allegations Most Media Outlets, Except NewTamsa, Have Remained Silent On Based solely on the facts already established in NewTamsa’s first exclusive report, titled *“Bang Si-hyuk’s HYBE–Ithaca Acquisition Controversy… ‘1.2 Trillion Won Paid for a Company After Taylor Swift’s Copyrights Were Removed,’” HYBE can be analyzed as having serious disqualifying issues as an entertainment business entity. First, HYBE acquired a company with total assets of only around 400 billion won by attaching an extraordinary intangible asset valuation of approximately 1.1 trillion won, even though the core intangible assets had already been sold. According to an analysis by Samil PwC, as of the end of 2020, Ithaca Holdings’ total assets amounted to about 436 billion won, with operating profit of only 21.8 billion won. Moreover, five months prior to the acquisition, the most valuable intangible asset among Ithaca Holdings’ assets, Taylor Swift’s master recording copyrights, had already been sold. The proceeds from that sale appear to have been paid out as dividends, leaving the company’s total equity reduced rather than increased. This copyright dispute had been shaking the global pop industry since 2019, and developments were reported almost in real time by entertainment media worldwide. There is no way a global company like HYBE could have been unaware of this. If it truly did not know, then it would be unqualified as an entertainment company. If it did know and nevertheless maintained the company’s valuation, it cannot escape suspicions of breach of fiduciary duty and embezzlement. Second, because this case raised the fundamental question of whether music copyrights can be sold without the consent of the actual artist, Bang Si-hyuk, if he truly identifies as an artist himself, should have stood with Taylor Swift from the moment Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings secretly acquired her masters, making Braun and Swift sworn adversaries. While it is true that Braun helped Korean artists, including Psy, enter the U.S. market and was an important collaborator in HYBE’s expansion into the U.S., even if Bang could not openly side with Swift, there was no business necessity to entangle himself with Braun in a way that damaged HYBE’s reputation. If one were to interpret the situation generously, that HYBE acquired Ithaca only after facilitating Swift’s repurchase of her masters, such an act would be almost saintly. Yet there is no chance such a positive story would have gone unreported by the media. HYBE could have publicly announced the acquisition and even sold the assets directly in a highly visible manner. However, especially within Korean media, it is difficult to find reporting or commentary on this issue at all. This silence suggests that HYBE actively sought to keep these facts out of the public eye. Were They Manipulating the Stock Prices of Acquisition Targets, and Their Own Shares? Second, another alleged use is as a method of managing stock prices. This is a suspicion that has circulated persistently among retail investors (“ants”) in the stock market: that through marketing firms, companies deliberately drive down the stock prices of acquisition targets, and even manipulate their own stock prices by releasing negative news at strategically chosen moments, such as when options tied to convertible bonds are about to be exercised. Allegations of this kind are already treated almost as established fact in the case of some publicly listed game companies. Given that HYBE is a large entertainment company staffed with many executives from the gaming industry, it is unlikely to be mere coincidence that similar suspicions have arisen. Moreover, M&A has already become one of the core activities of large corporations like HYBE. Third, and most cruel of all, is the type of reverse-viral operation confirmed through this reporting: cases where such tactics are used to effectively “warehouse” or sideline the company’s own idols or creators. Among these, the methods used by the company TAG PR are considered especially vicious. TAG PR is known to use “backlinks” and “search engine optimization (SEO) manipulation” to demonize its targets. A backlink is a technique in which links to a specific site are secretly planted on third-party websites or blogs. By embedding links to smear sites on seemingly unrelated platforms, such as European flower websites or obscure wiki pages, search engines are tricked into recognizing the content as popular and ranking it highly. As a result, when people search for a person involved in a controversy, websites or social media accounts filled with disinformation automatically appear at the top. The public then mistakes this disinformation for factual information. In an instant, public opinion turns toward condemning or even hating the targeted individual, while the attacker is recast as the victim. According to reporting by NewTamsa, The Hankyoreh, and other foreign media outlets, HYBE acquired TAG PR on August 1, 2024, after public opinion had begun to shift following Min Hee-jin’s press conference, where she actively confronted HYBE and engaged the media. After what appears to have been roughly a month of coordination with TAG PR, HYBE dismissed Min Hee-jin on August 27, 2024. NewTamsa further reports that after NewJeans members held a live broadcast on September 11 demanding Min Hee-jin’s reinstatement, HYBE handed TAG PR–related materials to Billboard reporter Jeff Benjamin, who had requested information about the matter. Creating a “Demonization” Page Targeting Its Own Dissenting Director, Min Hee-jin TAG PR launched its signature reverse-disinformation site, minheejin(dot)net, on September 27. That date coincided with an event where former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin was invited as a speaker at Hyundai Card’s major culture-and-convergence event, Da Vinci Motel, where she spent nearly two hours engaging with the public. On that day, regardless of HYBE’s influence, Min was bound to receive significant attention due to the cultural impact of Hyundai Card and the event itself. The reason TAG PR, then still a HYBE subsidiary, felt compelled to create a demonization page attacking Min Hee-jin, who, despite being removed as CEO, was still a HYBE board member and an ADOR director, may have been fear that Hyundai Card’s cultural clout would lend greater credibility and momentum to Min’s claims. These pages are currently inaccessible. However, NewTamsa recovered them through archive sites and shared the results in its reporting. The content was grotesque: filled with phrases such as “Min Hee-jin Criminal (MHJ Criminal),” “K-pop criminal,” and “It’s time to stop believing her,” and even included false claims such as “Min Hee-jin abused NewJeans.” To be sure, Scooter Braun is no longer on HYBE’s board, and HYBE has fully divested its stake in TAG PR. However, the reasons behind these decisions remain deeply questionable, as they occurred amid U.S. lawsuits exposing the alleged misconduct of Scooter Braun and TAG PR. Cutting off a tail cleanly does not eliminate the temptation to manipulate public opinion again in the future. In fact, during the period when TAG PR was a HYBE subsidiary, public sentiment shifted back in HYBE’s favor, and HYBE prevailed in its civil litigation against NewJeans. A Government and Media Subdued Before a Corporate Giant Like HYBE The most serious issue is that the Lee Jae-myung administration appears to be acting as though it is unaware of these grave allegations. HYBE’s chairman still sits as a standing member of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee, which includes vice ministers from as many as ten government ministries. Meanwhile, aside from NewTamsa and The Hankyoreh, Korean media continue to avoid the issue altogether. Even now, a search for HYBE-related news yields little more than glowing coverage of the achievements of BTS and other idols under its multi-label system. Yet even RM recently made pointed, meaningful remarks during a live broadcast. The fact that his voice appears constrained should be a matter of serious media concern, but in front of a conglomerate like HYBE, the press behaves like nothing more than a well-trained puppy dog. In the midst of all this, conscientious critics in the United States have begun referring to HYBE as a “mafia.” If such an assessment is even partially true, does that not mean the fate of K-pop itself is being decided by a mafia-like entity? Does that also place the Lee Jae-myung administration on the path of becoming its lifeline? Must we continue to stand by and do nothing? Even today, Belift Lab, HYBE’s subsidiary and the chairman’s company, is pursuing a lawsuit seeking damages in the hundreds of millions of won against the NewJeans fandom. The defendant is a minor. Is this not abuse?