On June 2 2026 at 10:00 PM, MBC's flagship current affairs program "PD Notebook" aired an episode titled "MC Mong and the Chairwoman's K-Pop Trade Secrets" ("MC몽과 회장님의 K팝 영업비밀"). The broadcast placed serious financial irregularities and personal allegations against the top management of ONE HUNDRED squarely in the spotlight.

Shortly before the broadcast, ONE HUNDRED Chairwoman Cha Ga Won, one of the parties named in the MBC investigation, unsuccessfully sought a court injunction to block the program's airing.

ONE HUNDRED, an agency founded in 2023 and led by MC Mong until 2025, has been a constant talking point among K-pop fans in recent years. The agency is already mired in scandals involving THE BOYZ. These include legal disputes with former member Joo Haknyeon, and ongoing conflicts with the rest of the group. Meanwhile, its subsidiary INB100 has so far lost all legal battles with SM Entertainment regarding EXO members.

Read more:
ONE HUNDRED Agency Mired in Turmoil Over Disputes with Artists
Journalist Who Accused Joo Haknyeon (THE BOYZ) Indicted for Defamation

The structure of the group of companies and their artists is as follows:

ONE HUNDRED (Direct contracts) - THE BOYZ
Big Planet Made Entertainment (BPM) - VIVIZ, BADVILLAIN, fromis_9 (select members)
Million Market (under BPM):
- Sublabel ATMseoul (Coogie),
- Sublabel OFF THE (Chancellor and Jiselle),
- Sublabel Rhythmnet (Lim Chae Eun),
- solo artists Lee Seung Gi, Taemin (SHINee), Lee Mu Jin, Huh Gak, Ha Sung Woon (ex-Wanna One), Soyou (ex-SISTAR), BE'O, Ren (ex-NU'EST), Yong Jun Hyung (via label Black Made), Lee Soo Geun (TV host), Kasper (choreographer)
INB100 - Baek Hyun, Chen, Xiumin (EXO/EXO-CBX)

Against a backdrop of active legal proceedings and various claims, the MBC investigation has now been released. You can watch it here

Key Allegations

Misappropriation of Funds

According to the program, the ONE HUNDRED label and its subsidiaries received advances totaling more than 115 billion won ($75 million) from distributors and concert organizers. However, funds from corporate accounts were allegedly funneled into the personal accounts of Chairwoman Cha Ga Won. Data presented by the program reportedly showed that on a day when 700 million won was deposited, 800 million won was withdrawn the following day.

These funds are suspected to have been used to purchase luxury gifts for MC Mong, including cars and watches worth 5 billion won ($3.3 million).

Experts who reviewed ONE HUNDRED's financial statements have pointed to irregularities in its cash flows. The company reportedly received massive prepayments, yet at the end of the fiscal year, only 50 million won in cash remained in its accounts.

Non-Payment to Artists and Staff

Journalists discovered that many of the label's artists, including THE BOYZ, Lee Mu Jin, EXO-CBX, and Lee Seung Gi, have not received their due payments. Freelance staff, such as camera operators and technical personnel, have also been affected by unpaid wages. The total confirmed damages are estimated to exceed 10 billion won ($6.5 million).

Questionable Real Estate Deal

This is a very strange story, closely tied to the specifics of Korea's "jeonse" housing rental system, and it appears to be key to the entire scandal.

Chairwoman Cha Ga Won, who comes from a construction background, built a luxury villa complex called La Nouvo. Sales were sluggish, but she needed to recoup construction costs for her own construction firm. To do this, she needed to attract tenants. The initial market value of such a villa was 3.6 billion won.

She approached Lee Seung Gi and Baekhyun. Through persuasion and appeals to a close personal bond - "we're family" - she allegedly pressured them into taking the apartments for 10.5 billion won and 16 billion won respectively, far above the market price. According to their accounts, they were only informed of the actual cost after they had already moved in.

Both took out bank loans - 7.5 billion won and 10 billion won. Cha Ga Won promised to pay the interest on these loans. "PD Notebook" claims Cha paid this interest not from her own pocket, but using company funds. Under the jeonse system, the principal loan amount does not need to be repaid to the bank during the lease term; it is understood that the landlord will return the full deposit to the tenant at the end of the contract, who then repays the bank. If the landlord cannot return the deposit, the HUG insurance (if taken out) would cover the loan.

In this way, the artists effectively received free housing paid for by their chairwoman, while she secured a sum two to three times higher than what she could have otherwise obtained.

Nuances:

- According to the artists, Cha Ga Won has not been paying the interest, leaving them to cover the payments themselves.

- The property value has been inflated, so the transaction could be declared void, in which case the artists would receive no HUG insurance payout.

- The money is with the chairwoman; the artists have none. If her company, a party to the deal, goes bankrupt, even the auction of the property and other assets would not cover the principal of the bank loan. In that scenario, Lee Seung Gi and Baekhyun would be left to repay billions in debt. It is worth noting that jeonse creditors are not first in line among creditors; they are preceded by tax arrears, bank mortgages, and wage claims.

The possibility of bankruptcy is far from hypothetical, as a review of financial statements suggests. The companies are technically insolvent (a state where debts exceed assets), and the building itself has been seized due to unpaid taxes.

Ethics Violations

The program aired screenshots of KakaoTalk messages allegedly sent by MC Mong to a relative of Cha Ga Won. In these messages, MC Mong allegedly confessed to an extramarital affair with Cha, discussed their joint trips to Las Vegas, and confirmed that Cha Ga Won covered his gambling debts. The program also raised suspicions of illegal overseas gambling, mentioned prostitution, and claimed the couple traveled on private jets provided by American casinos, stayed in luxury hotels, and frequently visited VIP gaming rooms.

A former personal assistant to Cha Ga Won also claimed that, at her direction, more than 2 billion won in cash was transferred annually to a private currency exchange operator to facilitate money transfers to the United States.

Both MC Mong and Cha Ga Won have vehemently denied all allegations.

MC Mong called the screenshots shown on air fabricated and criticized the program for failing to verify the information before broadcasting. According to him, the Las Vegas trip was a business outing involving many employees, and the payment problems only began after he left the company.

Cha Ga Won also denies all allegations, including the affair with MC Mong, embezzlement, and non-payment of wages. Her lawyers have called the allegations regarding the apartments and loans false. From their perspective, Lee Seung Gi's story is a "misunderstanding," and they have reached out to his representatives to resolve the matter. They claim the luxury apartments were all sold, and that Cha Ga Won has faithfully paid the interest on her artists' jeonse loans from her personal funds for three years.

Even before the program aired, MC Mong threatened to sue the show for 100 billion won, accusing the journalists of defamation and of destroying his 18-year career. Cha Ga Won sought a court injunction to block the broadcast, but the court dismissed the petition, and the program aired as scheduled.

This investigation marks the official start of the biggest scandal in the Korean entertainment industry in 2026. It is likely to seriously damage ONE HUNDRED's already questionable reputation and lead to a flurry of lawsuits.

Ultimately, only a court can determine the authenticity of the information. For now, the investigation's findings are backed solely by the reputation of the MBC journalists involved.

Still, when reading such things, one laments the passing of Balzac. He would surely have added several more fine chapters to his "La Comédie humaine."

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5