Cha Ga-won, head of talent agency One Hundred Label, arrives at Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Monday for a pretrial detention hearing. Cha is accused of proposing an intellectual property-based business deal to Nomers Co. using artists signed to his agency, collecting 24.2 billion won in advance payments after signing a contract, and then failing to carry out the project. [Yonhap]
Cha Ga-won, head of talent agency One Hundred Label, arrives at Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Monday for a pretrial detention hearing. Cha is accused of proposing an intellectual property-based business deal to Nomers Co. using artists signed to his agency, collecting 24.2 billion won in advance payments after signing a contract, and then failing to carry out the project. [Yonhap]

Cha Ga-won, head of talent agency One Hundred Label, has been sent to prosecutors in custody on fraud charges totaling 30 billion won ($21.1 million).

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Metropolitan Investigation Unit's financial crimes unit transferred Cha to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office on Friday on charges of aggravated fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

Cha is accused of proposing a business deal to Nomers Co. that would leverage the intellectual property rights of artists signed to his agency, signing a contract, collecting 24.2 billion won in advance payments, and then failing to deliver on the project.

Police believe Cha concealed from Nomers the existence of a prior contract with another company — one that showed no signs of expiring soon — and entered into a duplicate agreement while being unprepared to fulfill it.

In addition, police are said to have found evidence that Cha launched the talent agency business while carrying substantial debt, and subsequently used a contract-splitting scheme to cycle through repayments.

Seoul Central District Court held a pretrial detention hearing for Cha on Monday and issued an arrest warrant, citing concerns about the destruction of evidence.

Meanwhile, Cha has denied all charges during the police investigation. He is said to have argued that the various allegations surrounding One Hundred Label arose in the context of a hostile merger and acquisition attempt.


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com