Cha Ga-won, chairman of Piarc Group and head of entertainment agency One Hundred, has been taken into custody by police on fraud charges totaling 30 billion won ($20.9 million).
Judge Bu Dong-sik of Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant Monday after holding a pretrial detention hearing for Cha, who faces charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. The judge cited concerns about evidence destruction as grounds for the warrant.
Cha is accused of proposing an intellectual property-based business venture to Nomers Co. using artists signed to his agency, signing a contract and collecting 24.2 billion won in advance payments, then failing to deliver on the project.
Police believe Cha concealed from Nomers the existence of a prior contract with another company — one that showed no sign of expiring soon — and entered into a duplicate agreement while being unprepared to carry out the business.
Investigators also found evidence suggesting Cha launched his entertainment agency while carrying substantial debt, and subsequently used a contract-splitting scheme to cycle through repayments.
Cha's legal team has denied all the allegations.
After the hearing, which lasted roughly two hours and 40 minutes, Cha left the courthouse without responding to reporters' questions about what arguments he had presented or whether he acknowledged the charges against him.
Police had previously sought arrest warrants for Cha twice, but prosecutors returned both requests, asking for additional investigation each time.
Police then conducted further inquiries in consultation with prosecutors — including tracing bank accounts and analyzing contract relationships — before filing a third warrant application. Prosecutors submitted the warrant request to court on July 28. With the warrant granted on the third attempt and Cha now in custody, the remaining police investigation is expected to gain momentum.
Police raided Big Planet Made Entertainment, a subsidiary of One Hundred, in April, and questioned Cha as a suspect on May 6 and 7.
yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com
