[ASKKPOP] Key East Entertainment responds to fraud allegations against Bae Yong Joon
Hallyu starBae Yong Joonis getting swept away in a fraud controversy surrounding the alleged failure ofGorilla Life Way, an enterprise of which he is a major shareholder, to carry through with a contract involving a red ginseng enterprise.
On September 23, an investigator of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutor's Office revealed that they were undergoing an investigation following fraud accusations against Bae Yong Joon by supplementary health food manufacturing enterprise,Koje. Allegedly, back in 2009 in Japan, the two companies signed a contract through which Koje gave exclusive sales right of their ginseng product to Gorilla Life Way. Koje claimed that through fraudulent means, Bae Yong Joon's side got ahold of 2.2 billion KRW (~ $2.1 million USD) as a result of this contract, which was terminated in 2010. The money was not used as it was meant to. The investigator concluded that they just received the case and have not yet decided on plans to summon Bae Yong Joon.
The actor's agency,Key East Entertainment, spoke up regarding this through an official statement on September 23: "Abusing the fact that Bae Yong Joon is a famous person, they are behaving very maliciously by trying to make their claims a hot issue. Suing the individual rather than the party involved in the legal matter is simply an absurd act; hence, the agency will no longer condone behavior like this. We will strongly and firmly take care of this, which includes libel, through the law."
The agency pointed out that Bae Yong Joon was not the main party involved in the situation and that Gorilla Life Way had already won the whole case through the first trial. The agency continued, "During the last three months, Koje, under the organization name 'Koje Victims Alliance,' posted up insulting and malicious banners about the individual, Bae Yong Joon, in front of Key East's head office and has been doing a demonstration everyday. The group is causing great pain to the resident workers in the Key East office building and similar buildings as well as to the surrounding people."
The agency emphasized the fact that it was legally decided that they should not be able to post up insulting banners or do protests and revealed that the agency was currently suing on the grounds of defamation and undergoing a police investigation.
Lastly, Key East Entertainment stated, "It has already been five years since the incident in question, and the Koje management involved in embezzlement, malpractice, and fraud had already received its punishment through the law. It was clearly revealed that Koje made the contract with the intention of operating stocks, and they violated the contract with Gorilla Life Way. Because of this, Bae Yong Joon also suffered at the time."