CEO of Company That Produced 'BTS Jjagibgi Photoshoot' and Received Hundreds of Millions in Advance Payments Sentenced to Prison

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jung] Officials from a company who created and sold publications by piecing together photos of BTS members have been sentenced to prison.

On the 30th, Judge Park Suhyun of the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Division 9 sentenced Kim (55), CEO of entertainment-related company A, who was charged with fraud, to 10 months in prison. Moon (43) from the same company and Jeon (61), CEO of MGM Media who produced the photo book, were each sentenced to 10 months in prison with a 2-year probation, and ordered to undergo probation and 120 hours of community service.

The court did not detain Kim, who received a prison sentence, in order to give him an opportunity to reach a settlement with the victims.

Last January, without prior approval from BTS and their agency Big Hit Entertainment, they produced the "Star Focus Special Magazine" using BTS’s likenesses and signed contracts with publishers and sellers. At the time of the contract, Big Hit had already filed an injunction to prohibit the publication of the book, but the company did not disclose this fact and received several hundred million won from the victims.

The court stated, "The defendants claim they informed the victims about the injunction before signing the contract, but they could not specify when or how they did so," adding, "If the defendants knew there was a possibility the publication would be prohibited, they should have written it in the contract, but they did not." Furthermore, the court added, "It is recognized as guilt that the defendants deceived the victims and received advance payments for product supply."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.