What’s Going On With Actor Lee Jung Jae’s Artist Company? Fierce Wind Blows As Agency Reportedly Files Lawsuits Against 5 People Including a Former Executive
Artist Company, where actor Lee Jung Jae is the largest shareholder, has filed a police complaint against five people, including a former executive, over alleged breach of trust worth over 600 million won.
According to a Sports Kyunghyang report on October 23, Artist Company filed a complaint on October 22 with the Seoul Gangnam Police Station against a Mr. Lee and four others for allegedly violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust in the course of duties). The amount of the alleged crime stated by the company is 681.76 million won (approximately $485,000).
This complaint is a follow-up to the breach of trust allegations that emerged on September 17. At the time, the company revealed that it had confirmed the alleged breach of trust by Mr. Lee, who was an unregistered executive, but did not disclose the scale of the damage. The company was previously also involved in an investigation in 2024.
Earlier, Jung Woo Sung stepped down from his position as an in-house director of the company. According to a Sports Kyunghyang report on October 9, Jung Woo Sung resigned from the in-house director position on October 2, about 6 months before his term was due to expire on March 28, 2027. Artist Company is a management company that Jung Woo Sung and Lee Jung Jae co-founded in 2016, and the two became in-house directors together on March 29, 2024.
Artist Studio, the KOSDAQ-listed company in which Lee Jung Jae’s side secured management rights, is also facing changes. According to the Financial Supervisory Service electronic disclosure system on October 18, Artist Studio will address an amendment to its articles of incorporation at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on October 26 to change its company name to “Studio Ssolssol.” It will also add exhibition, convention, and event planning as well as art content businesses to its business purposes, and put forward an agenda to change its rules on new share issuance in order to attract outside investment.
Artist Studio is a company launched when Raemong Raein, the production company behind the drama “Reborn Rich,” changed its name in October 2024. At the time, Lee Jung Jae and Jung Woo Sung were listed as in-house directors, forming a new management structure.
Source: (A)
