![Singer-actor Lee Seung-gi and Cha Ga-won, chairman of Piarc Group [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/12/news-p.v1.20260611.1bac6d269926419d9ae30792349f3fa7_P1.jpg)
Controversy continues to swirl around singer-actor Lee Seung-gi's 10.5 billion won ($6.88 million) jeonse — a lump-sum deposit rental arrangement — at a luxury villa. Lee had claimed he was asked to pay 10.5 billion won as a deposit, which he said was three times the market rate, but KakaoTalk messages made public suggest he knew the amount was reasonable.
In 2024, Lee signed an exclusive contract with a label under One Hundred, an entertainment agency run by Cha Ga-won. Shortly afterward, he moved into La Nuvo 1, a luxury villa in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, built by Piarc Group — a company chaired by Cha — paying a jeonse deposit of 10.5 billion won.
Lee's camp told MBC's "PD Notebook," which aired June 2, that Cha had repeatedly urged him to move in under a jeonse arrangement and had refused to settle on a deposit amount until after Lee had already relocated — at which point Cha demanded a figure more than three times what had initially been discussed. Lee's side also said Cha had arranged all the financing himself and promised to cover the loan interest, leaving Lee feeling he had no choice but to sign the contract given that he had already moved in.
The dispute took on a sharper edge earlier this year when a media outlet raised allegations that the 10.5 billion won deposit was high relative to the property's sale price, suggesting the unit could be a "hollow home" — a property whose debt exceeds its value — and raising the possibility of jeonse fraud.
But Lee's own reaction after that report surfaced appears to cut against his later claims.
Hyeon Dong-yeop, a lawyer representing Cha, posted a video Thursday on his YouTube channel "Hyeon Dong-yeop's Highest Guard" titled "[Full] The Secret Behind MBC and Lee Seung-gi's Hannam-dong Jeonse Fraud." The video disclosed KakaoTalk messages Lee exchanged with Cha the day after the "hollow home" article was published.
In those messages, Lee wrote to Cha: "Chairman, you said my unit was appraised two years ago. I remember it coming in at around 16 billion won — if you show that to the outlet, I think they'll apologize and take the article down right away." The exchange suggests Lee was aware the villa had been appraised at 16 billion won and did not agree with the "hollow home" allegation raised in the article.
Lee also wrote: "We didn't set the deposit low because we didn't want to look like we had a special relationship — 10.5 billion won was set at a reasonable level relative to the appraised value. There's no problem." That message directly contradicts his later claim that he was pressured into paying a deposit more than three times the market rate.
"Was he right then and wrong now?" Hyeon said, arguing that Lee's account has been inconsistent.
According to Hyeon, the property had originally been pre-sold to a company called H Development for a price in the 10 billion won range. When Lee signed his exclusive contract with Cha's entertainment agency, the arrangement was restructured so that Lee would receive the unit in lieu of a signing fee — H Development's pre-sale contract was canceled and the property was offered to Lee as a jeonse. The appraised value stood at 16 billion won, and the property carried an existing mortgage of about 3.6 billion won; Lee then took out a jeonse loan of 7.5 billion won when he moved in. Because the collateral was valued at 16 billion won, both the existing 3.6 billion won loan and the additional 7.5 billion won jeonse loan were processed without issue, Hyeon said. He argued that Lee was aware of the entire arrangement and that the statement his camp sent to "PD Notebook" did not reflect the facts.
"Lee Seung-gi first asked for the 10.5 billion won jeonse to avoid multi-homeowner tax burden," Cha's side claims
paq@heraldcorp.com
