Lee Seung-gi and Taemin Also Victimized... Former Agency Manager Uses 1,200 Contacts as Collateral for Illegal Loans

"Manager A Immediately Resigned"
"Threatening Calls and Texts from Illegal Loan Company"
"Bowing Head in Apology... Efforts to Resolve the Situation"

All former employees of Big Planet Made Entertainment, which includes singers Lee Seung-gi and Taemin, have been found to have received illegal loans.
[Source=Lee Seung-gi, Taemin Instagram]

Former manager of entertainment agency Big Planet Made Entertainment (hereinafter Big Planet) has been revealed to have taken illegal loans using contact information of entertainment industry insiders as collateral, and the parent company One Hundred has issued an official statement.

On the 16th, One Hundred stated, "Manager A of Big Planet took small loans from about 40 illegal lending companies using the contacts stored on his mobile phone as collateral. When A failed to repay, the illegal lenders contacted the phone numbers held as collateral and threatened them." They added, "We first received contact from loan sharks on September 30 and immediately dismissed A. We expected the issue to be resolved as a personal financial problem of A, but today (16th), the illegal lenders called our company again, cursing and threatening us to resolve the financial issue on behalf of A."

They continued, "We have determined that this incident is not something that can be resolved internally and have decided to disclose all the details in hopes that no innocent victims will arise." They also said, "The phone numbers handed over by A to the lenders amount to about 1,200, including Big Planet employees, artists under our company, personnel from agencies where A previously worked, entertainment industry contacts including those in broadcasting whom A has known, artists and managers from other agencies." They added, "So far, the illegal lenders have only been making threatening calls and sending messages to Big Planet’s current and former employees. However, as time passes, it is highly likely they will contact other phone numbers stored on A’s phone."

Furthermore, "We take the seriousness of this situation very seriously and are preparing legal action along with police reports against the illegal lenders who have continued to make threatening calls up to today," they said. "We sincerely apologize for the innocent victims caused by the wrongdoing of an employee who worked at our company." They also stated, "Our employees are currently suffering to the extent that normal work is impossible due to the indiscriminate threatening calls from illegal lenders." They urged, "In the future, if anyone receives threatening calls or messages from illegal lenders related to A’s loans, please report immediately to the police." Finally, Big Planet reiterated, "We once again sincerely apologize to those whose personal information was leaked due to an employee of our company, and we will do our best to resolve this situation."

Meanwhile, One Hundred is a company jointly founded by Cha Ga-won, chairman of Piac Group, and singer MC Mong, and operates labels such as Big Planet, INB100, and Million Market. Big Planet houses artists including singer Lee Seung-gi, Taemin, and comedian Lee Soo-geun.