It's been revealed that chairman Bang Si Hyuk's LA mansion, purchased in April of last year at $26.4 million USD, was bought through a HYBE Labels subsidiary company known as BEL AIR STRADELLA, LLC.
Earlier in June of this year, the Korea Fair Trade Commission launched an investigation into HYBE Labels, designated a conglomerate as of 2024, for purposely omitting and/or fabricating the company's state of affairs report. Although the KFTC did not specify what materials may have been omitted or fabricated from the report, it was suspected that the omitted materials dealt with companies owned by chairman Bang Si Hyuk and his relatives.
Then, on July 26 KST, HYBE Labels published several corrections to its state of affairs report for 2024. Included in the correction was a U.S. subsidiary named BEL AIR STRADELLA, LLC, 100% owned by Bang Si Hyuk and registered in December of 2023.
After discovering the report, HYBE Labels shareholders speculated that BEL AIR STRADELLA LLC, 100% owned by Bang Si Hyuk, was a company that Bang Si Hyuk had set up in the United States solely for the purpose of purchasing his $26.4 million USD mansion in the Bel Air neighborhood Los Angeles, California.
Noting that BEL AIR STRADELLA LLC was registered as a real estate company, shareholders cynically commented, "Wonder what sort of lofty dreams drove him to open a real estate company..."
Meanwhile, Bang Si Hyuk's private LA mansion was previously owned by comedian Trevor Noah until 2022.
SEE ALSO: HYBE chairman Bang Si Hyuk: 'Collaboration is key to K-pop's global success'