🔗 2024-11-18 Team Bunnies Notice

Hello, this is Team Bunnies.

On the 15th, BELIFT LAB CEO Kim Tae-ho reiterated in an interview with a media outlet that the proposal for a certain group under BELIFT LAB and NewJeans’ proposal are “completely different,” and stated that he would proceed with additional lawsuits. We express deep regret over the attitude of BELIFT LAB’s management, who, despite our clear notification that we possess the full text of the proposal and transcripts, are audaciously filing excessive lawsuits far from admitting their faults.

We judged that it is more right to clearly distinguish right from wrong in court rather than causing unnecessary fatigue by disclosing the materials we possess to the general public. Accordingly, Team Bunnies informs you that we are preparing to file criminal complaints with a law firm against BELIFT LAB CEO Kim Tae-ho (HYBE COO), Visual Director Heo S-r, and Performance Director Myeong S-w* regarding several confirmed charges, and we plan to file them soon.

We ask for your understanding that this post is somewhat long as there are many parts of CEO Kim Tae-ho’s claims that are not true.

First, in the interview, CEO Kim Tae-ho acknowledged the fact that he received the NewJeans proposal on August 29, 2023, before the debut of the group in question. This clearly contradicts BELIFT LAB’s initial stance in their clarification video last June, where they stated, “There were absolutely no traces of mentioning or referencing NewJeans in any system including cloud, laptops, emails, and internal messenger.” It is tantamount to admitting that they received a proposal from another label—originally written three years ago—through some channel without the consent of that label, even though BELIFT LAB and ADOR are independent corporations.

The root cause of the BELIFT LAB-ADOR plagiarism suspicion lies in HYBE’s system where self-purification is impossible. The circumstances under which the “NewJeans Proposal,” which is ADOR’s internal data and intellectual property, was transferred to BELIFT LAB through HYBE remain unclear. However, the fact that BELIFT LAB received the material without due process is in itself a serious illegality and a violation of business ethics; referring to or plagiarizing it without consent constitutes an even more serious illegal act. CEO Kim Tae-ho should first explain the circumstances and reasons why BELIFT LAB came to receive the NewJeans proposal, but he is unable to say a single word about this.

Furthermore, CEO Kim Tae-ho mentioned in the interview the contents of the materials from the October injunction lawsuit between Former CEO Min Hee-jin and HYBE, which he cannot view as the CEO of BELIFT LAB. The fact that CEO Kim Tae-ho was able to view the contents related to the injunction, which is a case unrelated to BELIFT LAB, is questionable in itself. This is likely not unrelated to the fact that he concurrently holds the position of HYBE COO.

The plagiarism suspicion is a separate issue from the injunction case between HYBE and Former CEO Min Hee-jin. In the process of giving an interview to clarify the plagiarism suspicion, CEO Kim Tae-ho seems confused about whether he is speaking as the CEO of BELIFT LAB or as the COO of HYBE, and appears to have neither the will nor the ability to clearly distinguish between the two.

According to various press releases, it is confirmed that the content of the internal whistleblower’s exposure was submitted as evidence of HYBE’s unfair treatment of NewJeans in the PPT materials submitted to the court during the injunction hearing. And these PPT materials were submitted to the court as evidence. However, CEO Kim Tae-ho admits through the interview that he viewed materials he had no right to view, while simultaneously distorting the facts once again by putting forward false claims that they were not submitted even though there are clearly materials submitted to the court.

The only victims of this plagiarism suspicion case are NewJeans and the producers and creators who participated in the planning of NewJeans. HYBE has caused damage such as internal obstruction and schedule delays or cancellations while spreading false information through the media. This is an undeniable fact. Regarding this, neither as the CEO of BELIFT LAB, the party causing the problem, nor as the Chief Operating Officer of HYBE, does he feel any sense of responsibility; instead, he repeats the logic of an inhumane perpetrator shifting the blame to the victims.

CEO Kim Tae-ho claimed in the interview that Former CEO Min Hee-jin is intentionally delaying the lawsuit, and is spreading this content as if it were true through other media outlets several times until today. HYBE, Source Music, and BELIFT LAB are recklessly filing about 10 indiscriminate lawsuits against individuals using company funds. In such a situation, telling individuals who are suffering mental and economic damage from lawsuits to faithfully participate in investigations is in itself an abuse of the right of action (litigation abuse) that might be seen in political circles. We hope you realize that it is none other than yourself who is committing unfair acts.

Last April, Former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin sent an email to the executives requesting vindication regarding plagiarism suspicions against NewJeans, discrimination, and HYBE’s misconduct as the CEO of ADOR to protect the value of NewJeans. However, what returned was an emergency illegal audit. In this process, they continued biased propaganda (smear campaigns) by endlessly distorting facts through colluding media outlets, turning issues raised against them into forced controversies, and mentioning events unrelated to the essence.

The illegal marketing act called “reverse viral marketing,” which surfaced through the so-called Weekly Music Industry Report, is a prime example of HYBE-style media play. HYBE’s false claims are spread to media outlets and communities in a short time without verification of facts, and acts of distributing distorted reports evoking emotions by using their own artists for problems they need to answer, and spreading false content overseas by mobilizing unverified overseas “cyber wrecker” (malicious YouTuber) channels, should no longer be tolerated.

We will inform you of the progress of the complaint filing process soon. In addition, we inform you that the first complaint case against Dispatch, Source Music, and HYBE, and the second complaint case against Kim Ju-young, Lee Do-kyung, Park Tae-hee, and Cho Sung-hoon were merged on the 15th, and the investigation is currently underway.

Thank you.

Phil Law Firm / Law Office Opes / NewLawyer Law Office / Saeol Law Office