On Monday, August 4, 2025, JTBC reported that HYBE Headquarters is under a month-long police search warrant due to recent allegations against the company’s chairman, Bang Si-hyuk. Previously, on July 24, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Financial Investigation conducted a search and seizure of the HYBE Headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.However, the warrant they hold for the search and seizure is available for a month and is valid until August 16. Additionally, it has special regulations, unlike other warrants. While Article 125 of the Criminal Procedure Act restricts search and seizures at night, the warrant against the company allows the search and seizure to be conducted before sunrise and after sunset.Moreover, the search areas are also broad and include a variety of spaces within the HYBE Headquarters. It includes the chairman's office, the secretary's office, the finance department, the accounting department, and other departments that contain items that could be seized. Police comments on HYBE and Chairman Bang Si-hyuk's recent controversy involving unfair trade practicesIn July, Bang Si-hyuk was investigated for allegations related to his unfair trading practices. The controversy was a snowball effect from the events that unfolded in 2019, during the establishment and rebranding of HYBE Labels. Before the IPO, the chairman, Bang Si-hyuk, had allegedly misled their investors.While he informed them that there would be no public listing for the company, he secretly made agreements with private equity funds through acquaintances and gained a profit amounting to 400 billion KRW after HYBE went public. Since these profits were not documented in the company's official filings, they violated South Korea's Capital Market Law.Following the proceedings of the issue, the latest update was that the entertainment company had gone through a month-long search and seizure by special judicial police officers as per the instructions of the Financial Supervisory Service. According to JBTC, one of the police officials said the following about the search and seizure at the HYBE Headquarters:"It appears that the investigation into Chairman Bang is being expedited in line with the new administration's policy of severely punishing capital market disruption."Additionally, the representative mentioned the scope of the search and seizure and clarified that even though the warrant was valid for a month, the search and seizure at the company had already been concluded.In other news, HYBE also made a statement on the current investigations being conducted against Bang Si-hyuk and the company."It is regrettable that the largest shareholder's active explanation that he appeared for the Financial Supervisory Service investigation and that he had not sought private profits on the premise of the listing was not accepted."The statement further read:"We respect the decision of the financial authorities and will do our best to more actively clarify the related suspicions in the upcoming investigation so that we can restore the trust of the market and stakeholders.While no conclusions regarding the investigations have been announced, if the parties are found guilty, Bang Si-hyuk can face jail time of a minimum of five years or life imprisonment. This is according to the South Korean law system that declares the above verdict for illegal profits and avoidance of losses over 5 billion KRW.