Composer jailed for defrauding investors in fake BTS business scheme

A South Korean appellate court has upheld a six-year prison sentence for a composer in his 50s who defrauded investors of 1.3 billion won ($880,000) by falsely claiming business ties with Hybe and proposing a fake venture involving the intellectual property of BTS.

The Suwon High Court on Wednesday dismissed the defendant’s appeal and upheld the original sentence handed down by a lower court. The composer was convicted of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

The defendant, who operated several companies in the music and digital content industry, was accused of deceiving the head of an information and communications service firm and others at his office in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, in August 2021.

He claimed that he was planning a business to manufacture and sell BTS-branded denim products and proposed transferring licensing rights to a newly established corporation to carry out the project independently.

Prosecutors said he fraudulently obtained 750 million won from the victims under the pretext of acquiring a company, which he alleged was already producing and selling BTS-themed merchandise such as slippers.

He also claimed to have purchased a 50 percent stake in the company for 1 billion won and asserted that he had a personal relationship with Bang Si-hyuk, the chairman of Hybe.

The trial court sentenced him to six years in prison, stating that he had “deceived victims into believing he possessed shares in the company and could promote the business through his personal connections, despite the absence of any substantive basis.”

The court added that the nature of the crime was particularly serious, noting the large financial losses and the defendant’s lack of remorse.