**South Korean authorities are actively investigating HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk over alleged violations of the Capital Markets Act tied to the company’s 2020 IPO.** Police accuse him of misleading early investors in 2019 about listing plans, steering share sales to a linked private equity fund, and realizing roughly 190 billion won ($129 million) in illicit gains. In April 2026, Seoul police twice sought arrest warrants; prosecutors rejected both for insufficient grounds and ordered further probes. As of mid-May, police were weighing a potential third application after supplementary work. Bang has remained barred from leaving the country since August 2025, and the case remains in the investigative phase without a formal indictment. Traders price the roughly even odds of charges being filed by year-end around the persistence of police efforts against ongoing prosecutorial scrutiny and the possibility that additional evidence could support an indictment without prior detention. No major updates have emerged since the May warrant reviews.