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Lee Soo Man appeared in the Pandora Papers leak
Korean producer Lee Soo Man, author of one of the most powerful K-pop organizations in the business, appeared on the Pandora Papers mega leak discovered on October 3.
According to the Korean media Newstapa, the creator is allegedly related to organizations located in Hong Kong, an evaluation haven. Lee reacted to the report with a statement through SM Entertainment, where he claims to get tax evasion.
What happened to Lee Soo Man?
Newstapa, a free Korean news source, partnered with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to investigate the hole dubbed Pandora Papers.
The Pandora Papers include more than 11.9 million records from 14 law firms that spend a lot of time in arranging the sea organization. More than 600 writers from 117 countries have investigated ICIJ-driven distribution.
As Newstapa indicates, Lee Soo Man's name was referred to multiple times in 280 reports. The creator would be associated with eight organizations located in Hong Kong, although five of them would have used an aid to hide the beginning of their assets. The media claim that Lee was found as the "valuable owner" of these organizations.
In addition, the organizer of SM would have bought a mansion in Malibu California with one of these organizations (Polex Development). Newstapa slides that the reason would have been to circumvent the limitations of the real estate venture abroad.
Lee Soo Man's Guard
SM Entertainment has made a statement in this regard. Quoted by The Korea Herald, the report denies that Lee Soo Man engaged in illicit techniques or tax evasion.
“The Hong Kong companies, which were reported in the report to be operated and established with Lee's hidden investments, were actually founded by James Heejae Lee, the father of executive producer Lee Soo Man,” stated SM “At that time, James Lee transferred his funds earned in Korea with a legal method and we have provided the documentation to the reporters. "
James Lee's assets in Hong Kong were first acquired from his partner Grace Kyonghyon Lee and then turned over to the JG Christian Charity Foundation according to the will of LSM's father, the K-pop organization clarified.
“The companies mentioned in the report were audited several times by the Government: in 2014 by the National Tax Office, in 2015 by the Supreme Prosecutor's Office and in 2020 by the national tax agency. All these evaluations confirmed that the companies were founded with legal methods”, alluded to SM Entertainment.
The organization's claim refers to both Lee Soo Man and SM's office preparing a lawsuit against Newstapa for the broadcast report.
This is not the first time Lee Soo Man has faced contention for possible tax evasion. In mid-2021, the depositary asked SM to pay 20.2 trillion won to the public authority following a one-time review of their corporate exchanges.
