Pledis CEO Han found to have committed copyright fraud of IZ*ONE songs

Source: Dispatch

Dispatch has revealed proof of Pledis CEO Han Sung Soo's alleged copyright fraud.

On the 26th, Dispatch revealed that they were able to confirm that lyricist "SO JAY" credited as composer on a total of 8 songs on IZ*ONE's album is the wife of Pledis CEO Han Sung Soo.

Han Sung Soo's wife had worked as a visual director for Pledis in the past but isn’t known to have any experience in composing music. According to Dispatch, Pledis CEO Han secretly registered her as the lyric composer in order to fraudulently receive royalty profits.

Dispatch confirmed with the Korea Music Copyright Association that composer "SO JAY" real name is Park XX joined the Association in November 2018. SO JAY is credited as composer only on IZ*ONE's songs.

SO JAY has 8 copyrights registered as follows:

1. "Memory" - Co-lyricist: SO JAY's stake is 1.5 times higher than main composer Boombastic
2. "We Together" - The song was originally released for Produce 48's final album in September 2018. So Jay wasn't listed in the original version of the song. So Jay's name was added to the credits in the re-release of the song in October 2018.
3. "Violeta" - Heart*IZ
4. "Airplane" Heart*IZ
5. "Destiny" - BLOOM IZ
6. "Pink Blusher" - BLOOM*IZ -  SO JAY's stake is 1.5 times higher than main composer Boombastic
7. "Open Your Eyes" - BLOOM*IZ

An industry insider stated, "It seems he wanted to get royalties from the song as producer but was afraid CJ Ent wouldn't approve. If he was confident, he wouldn't have needed to use his wife's name." 

Another industry official stated, "There are hundreds of rookie composers fighting to get chose by agency superiors. Even if their songs get picked, they have to listen to what the superiors say."

When confronted about the fraud, Pledis Entertainment official explained that CEO Han took part in composing the songs but listed himself under his wife's pen name. But according to Dispatch, even if this is true, it means CEO Han was double-dipping in the profits as he was getting paid as main producer and receiving royalties as co-composer and lyricist.



CEO Han also retorted to the allegations stating, "I personally took part in the song production. But even then, it was careless of me to receive royalties under my wife's name. I simply wanted to be recognized and paid for my efforts in the songs. I was thoughtless. I acted on greed and didn't respect the position of producer. I'm sorry."

In the meantime, Big Hit officially became the largest shareholder of Pledis on May 25th. CEO Han's stake in the company is reportedly valued at 100 billion won (~$81 million).

1. [+1,531, -10] Wow, a real trash ba$tard
2. [+1,471, -15] As expected of Pledis ㅋㅋ
3. [+1,301, -9] He's trash but very smart. He needs to put in that same level of effort with his artists instead
4. [+68, -8] I knew he was trash after what he did with After School in 7 years and Pristin in 2 years..
5. [+58, -3] What happened to IZ*ONE is a comprehensive example of the level of corruption in the industry by adults who only care about their own interests
6. [+43, -8] IZ*ONE has been involved in all types of manipulation since debut...first the vote riggings and now thisㅋㅋ
7. [+43, -3] Why would a lyricist use an alias..
8. [+40, -1] Are you sure he's the only one that did thatㅋㅋㅋlet's dig deeper and catch them all

Additional Source: (1)