Samuel's Rep Shares Details Of Brave Entertainment's Questionable Contracts For Events

Amidst the ongoing legal conflict between Samuel and Brave Entertainment, a source close to Samuel shared the details of the unfair treatment that Samuel allegedly experienced under the agency.

A hearing was held last month for Samuel’s request to invalidate his contract with Brave Entertainment. Samuel’s side had mentioned not receiving a proper payment statement from Brave Entertainment and being forced to participate in the CEO’s personal events as some of the reasons to invalidate his contract.

On September 21, Star News revealed an interview with a source close to Samuel who did not reveal their identity. The interviewee started off by saying, “I felt that something was off when the company took him to the Philippines and Japan.”

“When Kim Samuel asked them to show him the statement of accounts for his activities since his debut in January 2015 regardless of whether there had been a profit or a loss, they refused to show it to him. When he started off his solo debut promotions after ‘Produce 101,’ it didn’t seem like it would work out. So we weren’t able to see the statement of accounts for three to four years, and when we finally received it in May 2018, it wasn’t an official statement of accounts, but an unprofessional printout that couldn’t be verified. But when we looked at it closely, there was an item that indicated a loss of 600 million won (approximately $506,800) from his promotions as 1PUNCH.”

Bringing up Samuel’s past activities as part of the duo 1PUNCH with rapper ONE, the source shared, “They never showed Kim Samuel his contract when he promoted with ONE. After their debut, ONE appeared on ‘Show Me the Money’ and immediately left for YG Entertainment, and there was no compensation for damages to the team. It turned out that the contract had no clause about liability for damages. The contract was like a sham, and ONE’s agency at the time is playing dumb about it.”

According to the source, when Brave Entertainment’s lawyer stated at their recent hearing that Samuel had not made any profit through his activities, they were taking into account the loss from his promotions as 1PUNCH.

The interviewee then mentioned the events Samuel attended overseas, namely in Japan and China. Regarding the event in Japan, the source explained, “[Brave Entertainment] hastily got him to sign the contract for the event in Japan as if it were a simple document of consent for overseas travel. It was revealed during the lawsuit that [the company] had received 800 million won (approximately $675,680) on the condition of an exclusive contract with Kim Samuel, that they did not give him the final version of the contract when the contract indicated that they had to, and that the advance payment of 500 million won (approximately $422,300) was omitted from the statement of accounts without his knowledge.”

In regards to the event in China, the source said, “It was an exclusive contract between a certain company and Kim Samuel, but [Brave Entertainment] stated that they could not show him the contract because it was a contract between the two companies that was unrelated to Kim Samuel. Even during the trial, they did not reveal the contract, so [Samuel’s side] said they tried to see the contract by filing a criminal complaint.”

Previously, Samuel sued Brave Entertainment’s CEO Brave Brothers for forgery and fraudulent use of private documents, but the charges were dropped by the police. The interviewee shared more details about the blockchain-related event linked to this lawsuit. “The company used Kim Samuel, a minor, for the CEO’s blockchain business by deceiving and lying to him. The event that Brave Entertainment is referring to is the following: Kim Samuel was used as a decoy at the venue of the BRST coin expo, and at 10 p.m., he was made to sing one song on a small and shabby stage inside a hotel’s conference room that was unrelated to the event. When we protested that they show us the contract because a contract must certainly exist, they reluctantly showed us a contract revealing that there were two more blockchain-related events he had to attend.”

The source emphasized that the primary goal of Samuel’s lawsuit was to terminate his contract with Brave Entertainment, adding, “The money-related issues come second. His contract with Brave Entertainment expires next January, and the lawsuit has been prolonged.”

As a final message, the interviewee commented, “Many kids these days who want to become idols since elementary school sign with an agency and invest their lives and time into their agency with trust in them. When I think about the many teenagers who may be treated unfairly like Kim Samuel, it breaks my heart.”

Regarding the matter, a source from Brave Entertainment stated to Star News, “We are working hard to smoothly resolve the conflict with Samuel.”

Source (1)