Han Ye Seul and SM Entertainment's Lee Soo Man Accused of Illegal Foreign Exchange

Financial Supervisory Service revealed a list of celebrities and chaebols who illegally dealt with foreign exchange. The revealed 44 people were accused of illegally dealing with foreign exchange totaling to about 13 billion won (around 12 million USD). SM Entertainment’s Lee Soo Man (founder and chairman) and actress Han Ye Seul were included in this list.

Financial Supervisory Service stated that when dealing with foreign funds, one is supposed to report to authorities concerned. The people on the list, however, failed to make accurate reports when they bought real estates and funds from overseas, allegedly avoiding to pay accurate amount of tax.

However, SM Entertainment replied, “There was an error while reporting about alterations made. It is not true that there was illegal activity concerning foreign real estate.” Han Ye Seul’s agency also retorted, “Concerning the report on news about foreign exchange and illegally obtaining real-estate, Han Ye Seul is not responsible for [the activity].” They also added that she delayed the reporting due to not being aware of having to report to authorities when dealing with the particular real estate.

Meanwhile, both Lee Soo Man and Han Ye Seul have been involved in negative scandals before. Last year, Lee Soo Man was accused of buying a luxurious mansion in America without reporting to authorities. The problem was solved after Lee Soo Man paid corporate tax of 10.2 billion won (about 9.4 million USD.) Han Ye Seul also had a controversy regarding the drama “Spy Myung Wol” and had been careful not to tarnish her image any further during her comeback with recent drama “Birth of Beauty.”