VVUP's agency EgoENT faces multiple lawsuits over 1 billion KRW (660,000 USD) in unpaid staff fees

EgoENT, home of rookie girl group VVUP, is now facing multiple lawsuits over 1 billion KRW in unpaid staff fees.

The company has become involved in a series of lawsuits after allegedly failing to pay a total of 1 billion KRW (about 663,000 USD) to staff who worked on the production of VVUP's albums and music videos. Multiple staff members, including a music video producer, choreographer, and stylist, have filed lawsuits against EgoENT and its CEO, identified only as Mr. Kim. In total, the amount of unpaid staff fees across all the lawsuits adds up to approximately 1 billion KRW.

In particular, choreographer 'D' alleges that they were not paid after creating the choreography for VVUP's 'House Party' and 'Super Model.' 'D' claims that EgoENT eventually stopped answering their calls about the missed payments. They added that when they saw that EgoENT had attended an awards ceremony in Japan and won an award in the midst of this, their outrage was "indescribable." 

Producer 'E' alleges that after producing VVUP's 'Super Model' music video, and personally covering local production costs for the video to be filmed overseas, he is still owed 250 million KRW (about 166,000 USD).

Stylist 'B' is suing over a total of 177 million KRW (about 117,000 USD) in unpaid fees, including missed payments for purchasing wardrobe items and unpaid laundry bills.

According to the staff members, EgoENT failed to make payments even after signing written agreements. One staff member secured a written agreement on December 29, promising that a payment of 336 million KRW (about 223,000 USD) would be made by January 1, 2026. However, the company never fulfilled that payment.

The plaintiffs also state that when they attempted to place a provisional attachment - which would legally freeze EgoENT's bank accounts in an attempt to recover some of the missed payments - it turned out that the company's bank accounts were "virtually empty."

CEO Kim claims that EgoENT tried to meet with the plaintiffs to 'negotiate and resolve' the matters of missed payments, but only received a response instructing them to communicate exclusively through legal channels. He stated, "We are currently in the process of resolving this matter through legal negotiations."