Highly Controversial K-pop Agency CEO Arrested Over Alleged $21 Million Fraud Scheme

Cha Ga Won, CEO of One Hundred Label and chairman of p_Arc Group, has become the center of controversy after being formally arrested over an alleged large-scale fraud scheme involving tens of millions of dollars.

On August 3, a Seoul Central District Court judge overseeing warrant requests conducted a pre-arrest interrogation (warrant review) starting around 10 a.m. for Cha Ga Won, who faces charges including an alleged violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud).

Following the hearing, the court approved the arrest warrant for Cha Ga Won over allegations of fraud totaling approximately 30 billion won (around $21 million).

Cha Ga Won is alleged to have proposed a business deal involving the intellectual property (IP) rights of artists signed to the entertainment agency under her operation, entering into a contract with corporation Nomus and receiving an advance payment of 24.2 billion won (approximately $16.7 million) — but allegedly never following through on the business as agreed. The scale of the alleged damages is reported to total around 30 billion won. Cha Ga Won’s side has denied all the allegations.

Source: (A)