On July 19th, the Civil Division 20 of the Seoul Central District Court held the fifth hearing of the lawsuit filed by Hook Entertainment against Lee Seung-gi for confirmation of non-existence of debt. The lawyers from both sides attended the hearing.
The court stated that it was necessary to confirm the basis on which the settlement details provided through the preparatory documents were prepared. The court noted that the original documents of the settlement details, which are the main cause of the lawsuit, should be reviewed to compare the claims of both parties.
Lee Seung-gi’s lawyer argued “In fact, the objective data is inevitably in Hook’s possession” and claimed, “It has been difficult to get even one proper settlement for 20 years.” Regarding Hook’s claim that they do not hold records prior to a specific point due to the statute of limitations, Lee Seung-gi’s lawyer responded, “They have not provided specific reasons why they don’t have these records. We will provide evidence based on the basic data we have.”
Lee Seung-gi’s side also claimed that the concert revenues were not properly settled, saying, “According to the exclusive contract, revenue and expenses for concerts should be disclosed and settled accordingly. However, Hook just provided amounts without any basis for the ledgers, and the costs claimed by Hook are not properly substantiated.” Hook countered, “Concert-related settlement is a separate issue.”
The court suggested, “It seems Hook gave 80 million won without revenue sharing. Lee Seung-gi’s side can request the related details if needed.”
Lee Seung-gi’s side stated, “The settlement data we received was only because the dispute arose and a former accounting staff member of Hook provided it. Hook has also not submitted documents regarding music royalties.“
In November 2022, Lee Seung-gi claimed that he had not received any settlement for music usage fees from Hook for 18 years since his debut, and sent a proof of content demanding settlement of the unpaid revenue. In December 2022, Hook sent Lee Seung-gi 5.4 billion won as unpaid settlement and delayed interest, but Lee Seung-gi did not accept it and proceeded with the lawsuit.
Hook, which filed the lawsuit, claims that they overpaid Lee Seung-gi for advertisement activity settlements and demand a refund of 900 million won. Hook changed their claim from asserting no debt to Lee Seung-gi to seeking the refund. On the other hand, Lee Seung-gi claims he is still owed 3 billion won by Hook.
During the second hearing, Lee Seung-gi appeared in court and read a petition, saying, “We were together from my teens to my thirties. If they had honestly and clearly settled the music royalties, this wouldn’t have happened. I want to speak about how someone with my level of fame and years of experience could be unaware of such basic rights for 20 years.” He added, “CEO Kwon Jin-young said, ‘I could pick up anyone off the street and raise them better than you.’ From the debut, CEO Kwon was very displeased when talking about money matters like appearance fees or contract money, getting very angry and painting me as a bad person who only cares about money.“
Lee Seung-gi emphasized that he first learned about the existence of music royalties in 2021 and said, “I felt a great sense of betrayal to learn that the company and CEO Kwon Jin-young, whom I trusted, had deceived me for so long. I hope this doesn’t happen again and that juniors don’t suffer similar injustices.”
