It’s been a while in the Lee Seung Gi fraud case (2022!), but the wheels of justice turn slowly and all that. Anyway, he recently won his case against Hook Entertainment (now Chorokbaem Media), as they have been ordered to pay him 581 million won plus interest. The legal fees of the lawsuit will be shared.
On June 4, the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Agreement Division 20 ruled in favor of Lee Seung-gi in the lawsuit filed by Green Snake Entertainment, which had sought confirmation that Lee was still in debt to the agency by approximately 900 million KRW (~ 630,000 USD.)
The court ruled that, “Green Snake Entertainment must pay Lee Seung-gi 581,377,421 KRW plus delayed interest,” and dismissed all remaining claims from Green Snake regarding additional fees and counterclaims.
Additionally, the court decided that both parties would bear 50% of legal costs.
Previously, in addition to terminating his contract, Lee Seung Gi had filed a lawsuit over unpaid profits from royalties during his time with the company, and Hook had paid him 5.4 billion won in what basically amounted to back pay. Hook then bizarrely filed lawsuit against him for 900 million won back, claiming they overcompensated him. Obviously that didn’t work, as they had to pay him an additional sum and it was ruled all of Hook’s claims were rejected. Also, in a move to show it wasn’t about the money, Lee Seung Gi donated all the back pay he received from them.
And indeed, it’s bigger than just him, as this case also carries broader implications for the entertainment industry at large via the so-called Lee Seung Gi Act, which is currently being put to the public.
The National Assembly passed a revision to the act in September last year — commonly referred to as the “Lee Seung-gi Act” — requiring agencies to disclose financial records even if artists do not explicitly request them. The revision is set to take effect on April 23.
The proposed enforcement decree outlines that agencies must provide entertainers with accounting records and compensation details related to their contractual work at least once a year, starting from the date of the contract.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Monday, a proposed revision to the enforcement decree on Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act is undergoing a public comment process until March 31.
The way I track my finances, I honestly cannot imagine being in the dark and just taking somebody at their word for more than a month, much less potentially over a decade if you don’t specifically request it. So yearly seems like a good start no matter how absurd it seems like this wasn’t standard practice to begin with.
