Lee Seung Gi’s Side Rejects HOOK Entertainment’s Claim That It Had Fulfilled Its Financial Obligations To The Star
Lee Seung Gi responded to HOOK Entertainment‘s claim that they had never withheld payments to Lee Seung Gi.
On November 28, Lee Seung Gi’s lawyer released a statement in which he calls HOOK Entertainment’s assertion that they had indeed fulfilled their financial obligations to Lee Seung Gi a lie.
On November 25, HOOK Entertainment claimed that the allegations they had not paid Lee Seung Gi for his music career were false.
Until now, all accounting surrounding payments has been verified by both parties, and all financial obligations have been satisfied. The assertion that Lee Seung Gi has never been paid for his music is false.
— HOOK Entertainment
To this, Lee Seung Gi’s representation stated that HOOK Entertainment’s claims were lies and that dialogue with the agency was meaningless.
We would like to express our regret over HOOK Entertainment’s lies and have since concluded that any dialogue between Lee Seung Gi and HOOK Entertainment is meaningless.
— Lee Seung Gi’s lawyer
Lee Seung Gi’s representatives stated that the agency purposely hid the singer’s music revenues from the singer and that it is nowhere to be found in the agency’s accounting audits.
Lee Seung Gi has never received payment for his music. Therefore, there is no way to know when and how much Hook Entertainment paid Lee Seung Gi. What we are certain of is that HOOK Entertainment purposedly misled Lee Seung Gi by hiding his music revenues and that payment for it never took place.
Also, HOOK Entertainment has begun sharing its accounting from 2018 on, and the singer’s music revenue is nowhere to be found in the audits. If HOOK Entertainment did indeed pay for his music, they should reveal the evidence of it being paid. If the agency has records of it paying for his music, all we need to do is subtract the amount from the unpaid amount. This isn’t that difficult. However, they still haven’t provided it, and for this and the agency’s gaslighting, we express our deepest regrets.
— Lee Seung Gi’s lawyer
Lee Seung Gi’s representatives also clarified that HOOK Entertainment’s assertion that all financial obligations between the two parties were settled in 2021 was false.
Although the agency claims that in 2021 it satisfied all of its financial obligations to Lee Seung Gi, this, too, is completely false. The agreement has nothing to do with Lee Seung Gi’s musical revenues. The agreement was for the ₩4.70 billion KRW (about $3.52 million USD) Lee Seung Gi had lent to the label. HOOK Entertainment initially received the amount from Lee Seung Gi as an investment for a building they purchased in 2011. Kwon Jin Young, however, never kept her promises in regard to the investment. Instead, when Lee Seung Gi stated he would leave the agency, the CEO turned the investment into a loan forfeiting Lee Seung Gi’s rights as an investor. It is in this context that the agreement was signed.
— Lee Seung Gi’s lawyer
Lee Seung Gi’s lawyer finished his statement by calling HOOK Entertainment’s assertion fraud before apologizing to fans.
I want to ask the agency how they paid and came to an agreement with Lee Seung Gi when he didn’t even know his music was generating any revenue. If HOOK Entertainment claimed that the 2021 agreement was regarding Lee Seung Gi’s music career, then that would be an absolute case of fraud.
All of this was due to Lee Seung Gi’s young age when he first debuted and his inexperience. Lee Seung Gi would like to apologize for causing concern over his private matters. We hope that we come to a resolution based on concrete evidence, and we hope HOOK Entertainment refrains from concerning the public by manipulating the truth any further.
— Lee Seung Gi’s lawyer
Stay tuned for updates.
