Bang Si-hyuk, Chair of BTS firm HYBE, faces arrest warrant bid from Seoul police in IPO probe (report)

Police in Seoul have utilized for an arrest warrant for HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk amid an investigation into an alleged buying and selling scheme forward of the corporate’s IPO.

That’s in accordance with a number of information retailers out of South Korea on Tuesday (April 21), which reported that the Seoul Metropolitan Police Company’s monetary crimes unit has booked Bang on costs of fraudulent and unfair buying and selling and is transferring to safe his custody.

The event comes someday after the company’s commissioner, Park Jung-bo, informed reporters the investigation into Bang was “primarily full” and nearing conclusion, The Korea Herald reported.

Bang’s authorized group, in an announcement to the Related Press, expressed remorse that police have been searching for his arrest “regardless of our full and constant cooperation with the investigation over an prolonged interval”.

The assertion added that Bang’s group “will proceed to cooperate with all authorized procedures and make each effort to obviously clarify our place”.

Bang has been underneath police scrutiny for alleged improper share transactions value round 200 billion South Korean gained (approx. USD $136 million).

As MBW beforehand reported in July 2025, regulators have referred Bang and three different executives to prosecutors for a probe into alleged “unfair buying and selling” tied to the corporate’s 2020 IPO.

Regulators are inspecting claims that Bang acquired 30% of the income, or about 190 billion gained ($129m). This quantity is considerably lower than the 400 billion gained ($272m) that was beforehand reported.

In September, Bang was summoned by police twice for questioning. Bang informed reporters on the time he would cooperate totally with the investigation, saying: “I apologize for inflicting concern with this matter. I’ll totally cooperate with the investigation as we speak.”

He returned to Seoul from the US in August to face questioning, telling employees on the time: “I really feel a deep sense of remorse realizing that our members and artists, who must be centered solely on their inventive {and professional} objectives, could be struggling due to this case.”

He has been underneath a journey ban since August, in accordance with Korean media.

Korean media reported lately that the US Embassy had despatched a letter to the Korean Nationwide Police Company requesting that Bang and different HYBE executives be permitted to journey to the US.

The embassy reportedly cited two causes: the July 4th celebrations and the upcoming US leg of BTS’s ARIRANG world tour, which opens in Tampa later this month.

On Monday (April 20), The Korea Herald mentioned HYBE denied involvement within the US Embassy letter, saying: “We have now not requested the US Embassy to hunt the lifting of Chairman Bang’s journey ban.”

HYBE added that Bang has not acquired an official invitation from the embassy, and that no resolution has been made concerning his attendance at any Independence Day occasion.

The US Embassy declined to remark additional, as per Korea Herald, saying: “We wouldn’t have something so as to add on that matter.”

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