Joint Tort Liability Damage Claims Also Filed Against Former Members' Parents
Attract Side: "An Opportunity to Establish Transaction Order"
Attract, the agency of the group Fifty Fifty, has filed a lawsuit claiming damages for breach of exclusive contracts against three former members. Additionally, the agency announced its intention to hold accountable Anmo, CEO of The Givers who was in charge of their music production, as well as the members' parents, who have been identified as accomplices.
On the 19th, Attract stated, "We have filed a civil lawsuit seeking damages and penalty fees for breach of exclusive contracts against the three former members Saena, Sio, and Aran of Fifty Fifty. We have also filed claims for joint tort damages against An Seong-il and Baek Jin-sil of The Givers, who actively participated in the unfair termination of the exclusive contracts, as well as the parents of the three members."
The group Fifty Fifty, which debuted last November, began gaining attention with their February release "Cupid." However, the members raised issues such as non-transparent settlements and forced schedules, claiming that the agency failed to fulfill its contractual obligations. [Photo by Yonhap News]
The amount of damages has been estimated at a total of 13 billion KRW. Attract explained, "The calculated damages and penalty fees amount to hundreds of billions of won. However, considering the possibility of further damage expansion during the litigation process, we have initially filed the lawsuit with explicit partial claims at the complaint submission stage."
Park Jae-hyun, a lawyer from the law firm Kwangjang representing the lawsuit, said, "We plan to do our best in conducting the lawsuit, keeping in mind that this case could serve as an important opportunity to establish fair trade order in the entertainment industry beyond mere damage recovery."
The Fifty Fifty Incident Marred by Legal Disputes
At the end of last October, Ahn Seong-il, the producer and CEO of The Givers, an outsourced service company of Attract, the agency of the girl group Fifty Fifty, was investigated on charges of fraud and breach of trust in the course of business. [Photo by Yonhap News]
Fifty Fifty, who debuted last November, began gaining attention with their February release "Cupid" this year. However, the members raised issues such as non-transparent settlements and forced schedules, claiming that the agency failed to fulfill its contractual obligations.
In June of this year, they filed for a provisional injunction to suspend the effect of the exclusive contract at the Seoul Central District Court and demanded separation from Attract, but the request was dismissed in August. They filed an appeal against the court's decision.
Attract raised suspicions that there is an external force approaching Fifty Fifty to induce breach of the exclusive contract. The agency filed complaints against three individuals, including An Seong-il, the producer of Fifty Fifty's "Cupid" and CEO of The Givers, on charges of obstruction of business, destruction of electronic records, fraud, and breach of duty.
The group Fifty Fifty, which debuted last November, began to gain attention with their February release "Cupid." However, the members raised issues such as non-transparent settlements and forced schedules, claiming that the agency failed to fulfill its contractual obligations. [Photo by Dongmin Seo, Asia Economy]
Among them, both The Givers and Fifty Fifty's global distributor Warner Music Korea denied being behind the abduction of the members and have taken legal action.
Subsequently, member Kina withdrew her appeal against the provisional injunction in October and returned to Attract. Attract notified the termination of exclusive contracts for the remaining three members Saena, Aran, and Sio, excluding Kina.
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