The recording of a conversation involving “The Givers” CEO Ahn Sung-il, former members of FIFTY FIFTY, and their parents, which took place in the office of “The Givers” on May 13, 2023, was recently revealed by Dispatch.

According to the news outlet, 10 people were present, including Ahn Sung-il, Jung Se-hyun (Saena), Saena’s father, Saena’s mother, Jung Ji-ho (Sio), Sio’s father, Sio’s mother, Aran’s father, Aran’s mother, and Keena’s father.

The keywords from that day’s discussion were condensed into approximately 13 categories:

“Warner” (mentioned 93 times), “Jeon Hong-joon” (90 times), “contract” (55 times), “America” (52 times), “Plan B” (40 times), “settlement” (37 times), “label” (29 times), “overseas” (28 times), “Plan A” (26 times), “lawsuit” (19 times), “advance” (18 times), “distributor” (17 times), and “termination” (11 times).

An Sung-il disparaged CEO Jeon Hong-joon, raising issues about the settlement and advances. He presented both Plan A and Plan B, emphasizing Plan B 14 times more than Plan A, which involved accepting the injunction and moving to Warner’s label.

Dispatch obtained evidence of An Sung-il’s tampering. Behind An Sung-il was Warner Music Korea. The real forces behind the FIFTY FIFTY crisis were clearly An Sung-il and Warner.

Gaslighting

When the mother of a member asked, “Does CEO Jeon have any plans for the children?”, Ahn Sung-il replied, “There’s no way he could have plans. He’s never made any”, adding, “The moment they entered the Billboard charts, he changed completely, and the company started going in a weird direction.”

According to Ahn, CEO Jeon rejected Warner’s 20 billion won (approx 15 million USD) offer and instead scouted for other distributors while prioritizing money.

“Nobody thought they wouldn’t take Warner Music’s offer. But he tossed the 20 billion buyout and now it seems like he wants to become HYBE”, Ahn also said, painting the CEO of FIFTY FIFTY’s agency in a bad light.

Fearmongering

To herd the members and their families into doing what he wanted, Ahn spread fake news.

In 2022, CEO Jeon received an advance from Interpark, securing 9 billion won (approx 6.7 million USD) for the exclusive distribution of albums from artists like Bobby Kim, Ha Sung-woon, and a new girl group.

However, advances are not the artist’s debt. Artists are only responsible for covering direct expenses. Despite this, Ahn Sung-il fueled fears of debt, causing misunderstanding in the members that they will need to pay for the aforementioned advance.

However, as of May 2023, FIFTY FIFTY’s direct costs only amounted to 3 billion won (around 2.2 million USD). Once these costs are deducted from sales, the members can receive payment. In fact, Keena, who decided to return to CEO Jeon, had already entered positive settlement territory by the end of last year.

Picking Fights

Ahn Sung-i claimed that he planned the future for FIFTY FIFTY, designing the steps, and explaining how to nurture them and approach the market, explaining that’s why he was supposed to receive 4 billion won, only to never got it.

However, FIFTY FIFTY’s agency, ATTRAKT, laughed when asked about this, saying, “Why would we give An 4 billion? That money goes to the girl group, of course.”

Ahn also criticized the company’s financial difficulties, stating that during FIFTY FIFTY’s debut era, things were tough.

“The funds were constantly getting tangled. No matter how we set up systems, the owner’s risk was too high, so I kept having to handle defensive tasks for the artists”, he said.

Regarding this, ATTRAKT responded with amusement, saying, “The company was struggling then, it’s true. The first album didn’t do well. We shot music videos for all four songs. It costed a lot. But the producer for the first album was Ahn Sung-il. Why leave that out?”

Exaggerating

Ahn Sung-il claimed that the success of “Cupid” was due to his precise (Asian) targeting, saying, “People say it’s because of TikTok, but that’s not true. From the beginning, I targeted Asia.”

However, when checked with ATTRAKT, there was no Asian promotion for “Cupid.” In addition, Ahn also bragged about connections and projects that couldn’t be verified.

Conclusion

Ahn Sung-il disparaged CEO Jeon, praised himself, criticized ATTRAKT, and lauded The Givers. All of this was a setup to lead FIFTY FIFTY to Warner Music.

“I arranged a meeting with Warner Music on May 17, 2023. Warner’s condition was that I would continue to manage the group“, Ahn Sung-il said.

This is clear evidence of tampering aimed at transferring FIFTY FIFTY to Warner.

In short, Dispatch pointed out that FIFTY FIFTY former members and their parents were manipulated by Ahn Sung-il for his own gains.

Below is the recording released by Dispatch: