Cha Ga-won's side says Lee Seung-gi first demanded 10.5 billion won jeonse deal to avoid multi-home tax burden

The legal team representing Cha Ga-won, chairman of Piarc Group and head of One Hundred Label, said singer and actor Lee Seung-gi was the one who first requested a 10.5 billion won ($6.9 million) jeonse — a lump-sum deposit rental arrangement — at a luxury villa, to avoid a heavy tax burden on multiple homeowners.

The claim appeared in a video titled "[Full Episode] The Secret Behind MBC and Lee Seung-gi's Hannam-dong Jeonse Fraud," published Thursday on the YouTube channel "Hyun Dong-yeop's Highest Guard," run by attorney Hyun Dong-yeop, who represents Cha.

In the video, Hyun rebuffed allegations that Lee had been a victim of jeonse fraud after paying a 10.5 billion won deposit to live in La Nuvo 1, a luxury villa in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

Lee signed an exclusive contract in 2024 with a label under One Hundred, the entertainment agency run by Cha, and shortly afterward moved into La Nuvo 1 — a luxury villa in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul built by Piarc Group — paying a 10.5 billion won jeonse deposit on a unit owned by Cha. Lee's side said on MBC's "PD Notebook," which aired June 2, that Cha had repeatedly pressured him into the jeonse arrangement, withheld confirmation of the deposit amount, and then — immediately after Lee moved in — demanded a sum more than three times higher than the figure originally discussed. Lee's side also said Cha had arranged all the loans himself and promised to cover the interest indefinitely, leaving Lee with no choice but to sign the contract after he had already relocated. Cha later fell into financial difficulty, stopped covering the loan interest, and even had the property seized after failing to pay taxes — raising concerns that Lee might never recover his 10.5 billion won deposit, a situation widely described as jeonse fraud.

Hyun said Lee's account was false. He said the unit Lee moved into had originally been set for pre-sale to a developer identified as H Development, but that Lee himself had asked, during exclusive contract negotiations, to receive the unit in lieu of a signing fee. Hyun said Lee had specifically asked to be treated "like Baek Hyun" — referring to singer Baek Hyun, who had previously signed a contract with the agency on similar terms. Hyun said Cha then absorbed a 1 billion won cost to cancel the pre-sale agreement with H Development and instead offered the unit to Lee on a jeonse basis.

However, the reason Lee chose jeonse rather than outright ownership, Hyun said, was to avoid the tax liability that comes with owning multiple homes. Lee already owns an apartment in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and acquiring La Nuvo 1 as well would have exposed him to a substantial comprehensive real estate tax, Hyun said, making the jeonse arrangement a deliberate choice.

"He would have had to sell his existing home to take ownership — that's what the Lee Jae-myung government demands of multi-homeowners," Hyun said. "Singer Xiumin sold his existing property, took ownership, and in our assessment pocketed roughly 5 billion to 6 billion won in capital gains on the spot."

Hyun said Lee had been fully aware of the details of the jeonse contract throughout the process. "This is not jeonse fraud — this is contract fraud by Lee Seung-gi, who wants out now that the company is struggling," he said. "I believe Lee is fabricating a fraud claim in order to terminate his contract while walking away from the company without loyalty."

Lee's side rebuffed Cha's claims, saying he should "properly return the 10.5 billion won deposit first."

이승기 측 “105억 전세금이나 제대로 반환하라”…차가원 주장에 반박

https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10770048