Employees of a Hive affiliate who sold Hive stocks after learning in advance about BTS's suspension of group activities have been brought to trial.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office Financial Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Suhong) announced on the 27th that three current and former employees of a Hive affiliate were non-custodially indicted on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act.
According to the prosecution, those who were in charge of BTS's visual creative and protocol for 8 to 10 years learned in advance that a video announcing BTS's temporary suspension of group activities due to members enlisting in the military would be released on June 14, 2022, on the YouTube channel 'BangtanTV'.
The day after the video was released, Hive's stock price dropped by 24.78%. These individuals sold 3,800 shares of Hive stock they held on June 13?14, 2022, just before the video was made public. The total loss they avoided by trading stocks using undisclosed important information amounted to 233.11 million KRW.
They continuously inquired with the person in charge about BTS's suspension of activities around the time the video was filmed, and just before the video was released, they were investigated to have told an acquaintance, "An article about (BTS) going to the military will come out next week, so I have to sell all my stocks."
A prosecution official stated, "We plan to strictly punish corporations and insiders of affiliates who use undisclosed important information to undermine the fair order of the stock market by exploiting information asymmetry."
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