A former vice president of ADOR has been summarily indicted on suspicion of downloading confidential financial information belonging to HYBE and its other labels without authorization, in the first criminal indictment to emerge from the dispute between HYBE and former ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin.
According to legal sources cited by South Korean media on October 30, prosecutors sought a summary indictment against the former executive, identified only by the surname L, for allegedly violating the Information and Communications Network Act. Prosecutors requested a fine of 5 million won. A summary indictment asks a court to impose a fine through a written procedure rather than a full trial, and it is not a final conviction; a court decision is pending.
Prosecutors allege that L downloaded 51 confidential financial files belonging to HYBE and other labels under the company. The files reportedly included artist revenue figures broken down by eight regions and trial balance statements for other HYBE labels, material described as core trade secrets.
L is a certified public accountant who joined HYBE in 2019 and worked in its finance division. In February 2024, L moved to ADOR at Min’s suggestion. Investigators found that, despite losing access to HYBE’s internal work materials after the move, L still accessed a HYBE work folder and downloaded the files. HYBE reportedly views the downloads as aimed at damaging the company.
Investigators reportedly found that L had passed financial information about HYBE’s major labels to Min without authorization before moving to ADOR. That allegation had surfaced in civil proceedings: at a December hearing in the shareholder agreement lawsuit between HYBE and Min, HYBE presented L’s download records, and Min was reported to have said she had never received such materials and did not know why L had downloaded them. No statement from L on the indictment was reported.
The case sits inside a legal fight that began when HYBE alleged in 2024 that Min had sought to seize control of ADOR, the label behind NewJeans. The two sides have since fought over Min’s shareholder agreement in civil court, with HYBE appealing a ruling that dismissed its bid to confirm termination of that agreement; the Seoul High Court has set December 17 for the first hearing in that appeal. The indictment is the first criminal case connected to the dispute to reach court, though the charge concerns unauthorized access, not a finding on the takeover allegations.
