PD Ahn of 'Produce' series says he didn't manipulate because of the labels

PD Ahn Joon Young and CP Kim Yong Bum had their trials today.

The two went to trial under fraud. Also present were other PDs of the program as well as 5 executives who are being accused of malpractice and improper solicitation by bribing Ahn PD.

The prosecutors revealed that they chose the labels through Ahn PD's call records, and chose the labels according to the trainees that either debuted or lasted long on the program. However, Ahn PD said, "I manipulated the rankings because of the pressure of the show's success and the ratings. I did not do it because of bribes from labels."

Lawyers for the labels also said, "It's true that we provided treatment, but we did not talk about the program. You can just look at the members of the meeting to see it was not improper. It's true that we treated him, but it was just to ask him to show interest. We did not ask him for screen time, to know the mission song earlier, or to put them in the rankings. There is no proof."