Min Hee Jin cleared of breach of trust charges, HYBE to appeal & reveal they’ve also been cleared of charges

In a rather rude turn of events to me personally given that I have a backlog of about two months of … everything, including a catchup post on the HYBE/ADOR/Everybody mess, there was recently a significant legal ruling on HYBE’s accusations of occupational breach of trust against Min Hee Jin, as police announced they will not forward the case to the prosecution.

Min Hee Jin’s side, as you would imagine, are pleased.

Last April, HYBE filed a criminal complaint against former CEO Min Hee Jin on charges of occupational breach of trust.
After more than a year of police investigation, it has been determined that there was no illegality on the part of former CEO Min Hee Jin regarding these charges. Today (July 15), we inform you that the police have decided not to refer both cases reported by HYBE to the prosecution, concluding that there is “no suspicion of a crime.”

HYBE, as you would also imagine, are not pleased. They announced the intention to appeal and detailed their reasoning.

Regarding the occupational breach of trust case that HYBE filed last year against former CEO Min Hee Jin and others, which was decided to not be forwarded to the prosecution, our company plans to immediately file an objection with the prosecution today.

They are saying circumstances have changed, including new evidence emerging and NewJeans trying to terminate their contracts.

Since the police investigation, new developments have occurred, such as the NewJeans members declaring the termination of their contracts. In addition, numerous new pieces of evidence have been submitted in related court proceedings, and based on these, the court has taken a very serious view of former CEO Min Hee Jin’s actions. The appellate court handling the injunction (Seoul High Court) determined that Min Hee Jin “is in a position of intentionally destroying the integrated structure that was the premise of the exclusive contract.” Accordingly, we intend to contest the non-indictment decision through the objection process.

More relevantly, HYBE also provided updates that Min Hee Jin and her cohorts have also had their litany of lawsuits against HYBE dropped as well.

Furthermore, regarding the case in which Min Hee Jin and others filed complaints last July against five members of HYBE’s management for occupational breach of trust and violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (defamation), the investigative authorities have decided not to forward to the prosecution, finding no charges. The authorities determined that HYBE’s claims “are not easily regarded as false,” “do not appear to have been made with the intent to slander, as they concern the public interest,” and that “the KakaoTalk conversations were obtained through legitimate authority during the audit process.”
Additionally, we would like to inform you that all indiscriminate complaints and accusations filed by Min Hee Jin and her associates against HYBE and its affiliates’ executives and employees have also resulted in decisions of not being forwarded to the prosecution:

• The case in which Min Hee Jin accused BELIFT LAB’s management and creative directors of defamation and false accusation
• The case in which Team Bunnies accused BELIFT LAB’s management of violating the Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (defamation)
• The case in which Shin Woo Seok, CEO of Dolphiners Films, accused the current management of ADOR of violating the Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (defamation)

All of these cases have either not been forwarded to the prosecution or dismissed.

lol

Just lol.

Man, you know, in the end you should always go with your instincts of figuring that all this legal theater would result in companies and their executives having minimal consequences (or straight up getting what they want) while idols (and the unfortunate employees that got tangled in this) would be the ones at risk and bear the brunt of any tiring from all this as the public face of the fighting. Nothing happens (to executives with power and money).

“I hope you’re hungry…. FOR NOTHING” pic.twitter.com/2EHItECqh7

— paco (@AllaireMatt) January 20, 2018

That said, I do think the money and civil stuff still has to be sorted further, so there’s maybe something there.