On May 10 KST, ADOR issued a press statement to denounce the recent actions of HYBE's internal auditors, who were allegedly "mistreating and harassing" the ADOR employees. 

The statement read, 

"Ahead of the scheduled ADOR shareholders' meeting, ADOR employees suffered mistreatment and harassment from the illogical manner of investigation assumed by the HYBE auditing team, and so we would like to issue a statement. 

Around 7 PM on May 9, after business hours, the HYBE auditing team began to interrogate a team leader of ADOR's style directing department. This interrogation persisted for over 5 hours until past midnight on May 10, and  the auditors went so far as to follow the employee to their home to confiscate their laptop and private phone, encroaching into personal matters unrelated to business affairs. Furthermore, abusing the right to perform an audit, the auditors employed irrational tactics such as applying mental pressure, threatening that the employee 'would have to go to the police station if they did not cooperate'. Despite the fact that the employee made known her early work schedule the next day, the auditors continued to use interrogation methods involving pressure, interfering in business operations.

According to this employee, HYBE's auditing team problematized the employee contract between ADOR and the style directing team leader, claiming that 'there is clear evidence of professional malpractice and embezzlement in this contract; therefore a lawsuit will be filed' and pressuring the employee. However, the contract in question was one that followed the general conventions of this industry, and its contents were already shared with the HR and ER departments at HYBE in February of this year. HYBE auditors can access details to this contract without applying such brash interrogation tactics. 

In the advertisement industry, labor such as hair, makeup, and styling is sourced from outside sources when carrying out shoots, and most of the time laborers sourced during these shoots are freelancers, who sign contracts with the advertiser. 

At ADOR, when NewJeans carried out advertisement shoots, labor such as styling was sourced internally rather than from outside sources. There are less risks to using house employees for such work, permitting a consistence in the quality of styling, and they can also respond with flexibility when sudden schedule changes occur, while also assisting with protecting the privacy of the artists. During these occasions, our house employees received payments for their labor from the advertiser, and when these employees also met their incentive goals, ADOR made sure to consider these external payments.

In 2023, during a calculation of performance related pay to be distributed, ADOR determined that there were too many advertisement deals, not to mention an increase in other affairs outside of advertisements, making it difficult for the house employees to handle all styling jobs for advertisements. Beginning in 2024, ADOR completed negotiations for the styling to be sourced from outside sources for advertisement shoots. This change was reported to HYBE's HR and ER departments in February of this year. What HYBE wishes to problematize here is the amount that this employee received from the advertiser through a freelancer contract, a payment they received instead of an incentive payment. This payment does not affect ADOR in any way, and cannot be evidence of embezzlement."

ADOR went on to claim that HYBE's auditing team was "interfering in business, imposing pressure, and invading employees' privacy" in order to find any trace of faults in ADOR's operations. 

According to ADOR, the employee who was subject to over 5 hours of interrogation is considering filing a lawsuit against HYBE for forcing them to agree access to their private information and threatening. 

SEE ALSO: HYBE Chairman Bang Si Hyuk's secret IPO deal with private equity firms sparks controversy