Cha Ga-won of One Hundred Label denies all charges at first fraud trial

Cha Ga-won, CEO of entertainment agency One Hundred Label, denied all charges at his first trial hearing Tuesday on fraud allegations totaling 30 billion won ($22.5 million).

Cha's defense attorney told the court that his client "denies all charges in the indictment" at the opening hearing before the 23rd Criminal Division of Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Oh Se-yong.

However, the defense said it needed more time to review the case records and would present detailed arguments and evidence at the next hearing.

Cha, who had been held at Seoul Detention Center, appeared in court in casual clothes wearing a mask.

Prosecutors brought two separate fraud charges against Cha totaling more than 30 billion won.

In the first, Cha was indicted in August on charges of proposing a business partnership to Nomers Co. using the intellectual property rights of artists under his management, collecting 24.2 billion won in advance payments and then failing to carry out the project.

The second charge alleges that he arranged a cross-jeonse agreement with an acquaintance — each party signing a lease on the other's home — collected a 5.4 billion won deposit and then failed to honor the contract. At Tuesday's hearing, Cha's side also clashed with a complainant identified only by her family name, Jang, over her application for a compensation order related to the jeonse deposit.

Cha's attorneys argued the compensation application should be dismissed, contending that the tenant held legal standing under the Housing Lease Protection Act — which safeguards the lease term and deposit — and could recover the deposit through the property itself, meaning actual harm and deception had yet to be established.

Jang's attorney rebuffed that argument, insisting the deposit had in fact been fraudulently taken. Jang's side said the villa was of low value and carried substantial senior-ranking liens, meaning the amount recoverable through a forced auction would be minimal.

Cha, a former real estate developer, co-founded One Hundred Label with singer MC Mong in 2023, but has run the company alone since MC Mong departed following a falling-out in July last year.

Several acts under One Hundred Label — including the group The Boyz, singers Lee Seung-gi, Lee Mu-jin and Bibi G, the EXO subunit Chen-Baekhyun-Xiumin, and broadcaster Kim Dae-ho — have filed to terminate their exclusive contracts, claiming unpaid settlements, and legal disputes are ongoing.