JYP Entertainment Stocks Drop After Arrest of Park Jin Young's Father-in-Law

JYP Entertainment was met with a financial shock today after its stock prices dropped following the arrest of Park Jin Young’s father-in-law.

Trouble first started for JYP Entertainment after the Sewol Ferry tragedy on April 16. Yoo Byeong Eon is the de facto owner of Cheonghaejin Marine, the operator of the Sewol ferry, and after the tragedy, Yoo, his family, and related businesses started to receive suspicion and were investigated for corruption. Park Jin Young, the founder of JYP Entertainment and its largest stockholder, is married to the niece of Yoo Byeong Eun, and rumors started to spread of suspicious financial connections between the Yoo family and JYP. When suspicions were raised of several hundred million KRW leaking into JYP Entertainment through Yoo Byeong Eon’s younger brother (Park Jin Young’s father-in-law), Yoo Byeong Ho, the Financial Supervisory Service began investigating account activities of the company in late April. JYP has denied receiving any illegal funds.

Such suspicious and investigations lead to a continuous drop in stock prices for the entertainment company, and the arrest of  Yoo Byeong Ho on June 22 on suspicion of embezzlement dealt another blow. Following the arrest, JYP Ent.’s stock prices dropped 3.49% to a low of 4285 KRW (~4.20 USD) around 11 AM of June 23. In early April before the Sewol tragedy, stocks were valued between 5-6.00 USD. 

So far, Yoo Byeong Eon’s wife, his younger sister and her husband, and his younger and older brother have been arrested for various charges.  Yoo Byeong Eon still evades arrest for more than a month, wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion. 

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