Despite the ongoing conflict between HYBE and ADOR, CEO Min Hee Jin’s side asserted that the parent company had engaged in illegal auditing and had stalked and harassed a female employee at her residence.
On May 10, Shin & Kim Law Firm, legal representative of Min Hee Jin, announced their plans to file an additional lawsuit against HYBE. This decision was made after ADOR’s style directing team leader was illegally audited.
As per the lawyers:
“HYBE audit team began auditing ADOR’s style director at 7 p.m. KST on the 9th, after work hours were over, and the audit continued for over 5 hours, until midnight on the 10th.”
It was concerning that HYBE allegedly followed the employee to her home in order to continue the audit after working hours. Additionally, she was reportedly pressured to hand over her personal notebook and cell phone, which were not company-issued.
The employee was warned that if she refused to comply, they would immediately report her to the police and accuse her of embezzlement based on supposed “evidence”they had discovered.
As a result of her experiences, the ADOR employee is currently coping with anxiety and mental health challenges due to the psychological pressure inflicted by HYBE’s audit team.
Upon the emergence of this issue, ADOR’s legal team proceeded to clarify HYBE’s claims individually.
The lawyer dismissed the alleged evidence of embezzlement against the style director, stating:
“Internal members were originally in charge of styling when filming the group NewJeans advertisements. But in 2023, the group received more advertisements than expected, and as the number of ongoing tasks other than advertisements increased, they came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to carry out all advertising styling tasks internally.”
We added:
“From 2024, we have revised the work process and have concluded that styling for commercial filming will be carried out through outsourced personnel, and this was already shared with HYBE’s HR and ER departments in February.
What HYBE is currently taking issue with is that internal members receive the amount that advertisers will pay to freelancers instead of receiving incentives from ADOR. However, no embezzlement can be established, contrary to HYBE’s claim, because there was no financial damage to ADOR. The related matters can be easily confirmed through the records of personnel-related work provided by HYBE as a shared service.”
To retaliate, ADOR intends to file a lawsuit against HYBE for making threats, violating privacy, and causing obstructions. In order to prevent any media attention, ADOR also intends to revoke their consent for HYBE to use private information obtained through a coercive audition that lasted for over 5 hours.
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