BREAKING: Kim Seon Ho’s Family Company Suspected of Using a Model Similar to Cha Eun Woo?!
Actors Cha Eun Woo and Kim Seon Ho, both currently under Fantagio, are believed to share striking similarities—most notably the establishment of separate family-owned corporate entities alongside their management agencies. In Kim Seon Ho’s case, warning signs have emerged suggesting that this structure may be linked to tax avoidance or disguised tax evasion.
According to confirmation from Sports Kyunghyang, Kim Seon Ho set up a corporate entity registered as a performance and event company, with its address listed at his own residence in Yongsan District, Seoul. The actor himself is registered as the CEO.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
The company was incorporated in January 2024 and registered for a wide range of business activities, including advertising, media, program production, content creation, HR consulting, and real estate sales and leasing. Although the entertainment industry is mentioned, the firm is not registered for popular arts or public entertainment business, fueling suspicions that it may exist largely in name only.
👪 Family Members in Control
Kim Seon Ho’s parents are listed as internal directors and auditors, with no professional managers involved. This operational setup is widely believed to allow flexible cash flow within the family.
Testimony suggests that Kim Seon Ho once paid his parents monthly salaries ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of won, only for the money to be transferred back to him later. In addition, the company’s corporate credit card was allegedly used for living expenses, personal spending, and entertainment, including cigarette purchases and karaoke outings.
Even the family’s Genesis GV80 vehicle is reportedly registered under the company’s name.
Such practices have raised suspicions of inflating corporate expenses to reduce personal income tax, while potentially constituting embezzlement or misuse of company funds.
🔁 A “Parallel Script” to Cha Eun Woo
Experts note that Kim Seon Ho’s corporate structure is nearly identical to the controversial family-corporation model previously associated with Cha Eun Woo—a method allegedly used to disperse income and accumulate assets through a private company.
Notably, the timing of the incorporation—January 2024—coincides with the period when Kim Seon Ho was negotiating a contract renewal with Salt Entertainment, roughly one year before his move to Fantagio.
In reality, Kim Seon Ho is reported to have received around 2 billion won in exclusive contract signing fees, and industry insiders believe the company was preemptively created to receive large future income streams.
Registering real estate as a business line would also make it easier for the company to secure loans, while allowing interest payments to be booked as expenses, further reducing tax burdens.
🏢 Did Fantagio Know—and Look the Other Way?
With both Cha Eun Woo and Kim Seon Ho now linked to similar corporate arrangements, suspicion is increasingly turning toward Fantagio, the agency managing both stars.
If Fantagio was aware of these structures yet continued to process contracts and payments through family-owned entities, such actions could be interpreted as organized tax avoidance, potentially undermining the financial transparency of a publicly listed company.
Previously, authorities imposed a tax reassessment of approximately 20 billion won on Cha Eun Woo, while Fantagio itself was also hit with an additional 8.2 billion won in back taxes.
Attorney Noh Jong Eon commented:
“The repeated appearance of the same tax-avoidance model among multiple key artists suggests this may no longer be an individual act, but rather a systematically designed structure originating from the company itself.”
If the amount of tax evasion or financial damage exceeds 5 billion won, the case could be prosecuted under special laws, carrying enhanced penalties.
📌 Fantagio’s Response
Fantagio has acknowledged the existence of Kim Seon Ho’s corporate entity but stated that:
- The company has not been active for over a year
- Dissolution procedures are currently underway
- The entity was established at the recommendation of his former agency, originally intended to support theater and stage activities, not for tax evasion purposes
The controversy, however, shows no signs of cooling down as scrutiny continues to mount.
