Sleepy Terminates TS Contract, Opens Own Agency; TS Claims He Embezzled Funds

In a shocking move to absolutely no one, Untouchable’s Sleepy departed TS Entertainment after he filed to have his contract terminated. In turn, TS Entertainment announced they will be seeking to sue Sleepy for embezzlement. Sleepy announced the moves on Instagram.

Hello, this is Sleepy.

First off, I am very sorry to be greeting you with this unfortunate news.

My exclusive contract with the agency that I spent more than 10 years at after my debut has been terminated through a legal dispute.

In the past, when my colleagues sued the agency, I believed the agency over and over again. However, after the CEO passed away last April, matters that I could not understand occurred.

I asked point-blank multiple times to be shown my account statements, but I was never shown a proper one.

After showing me a few arbitrarily written up pages, the current management told me that they had shown me everything. Even now, as I don’t know exactly how the appearance fees I earned while promoting were used, this problem is not just my own.

In fact, because the management fees and rent for my dorm were continuously pushed back seven to as much as 12 months, I lived uncomfortably with my water and electricity cut off, and I was eventually evicted.

I was afraid to sue, and because hiring a lawyer would cause a strain on my already difficult financial situation, I really worked hard to bear with it until the last moment. However, as the agency had even my broadcast appearance payments seized by creditors, I could not take it anymore and decided to sue.

I feel it is unfortunate that the current management claimed that they are going to take legal measures against me for embezzling money despite my exclusive contract already being terminated.

I did not embezzle money. I am actually trying to recover my rights through receiving the money that was withheld from me through suing the agency. I always want to greet you with good news, but because I couldn’t do that, I am sorry. However, I will not despair. I am really working hard every day. I want to overcome this, and I will.

Thank you for reading my rambling.

View this post on Instagram

안녕하세요. 슬리피입니다. 먼저 이런 불미스러운 일로 인사드리게 되어 너무 죄송합니다. 저는 데뷔 때부터 무려 10년을 넘게 함께한 소속사와 분쟁을 벌이고 있고 현재는 전속 계약이 해지된 상황에 있습니다. 과거 소속사 동료들이 소속사를 상대로 소송을 하더라도 저는 소속사를 믿고 또 믿었습니다. 하지만 지난해 4월, 대표님께서 돌아가시고 난 후 이해할 수 없는 일들이 벌어졌습니다. 단적인 예로 저는 ‘정산내역서’를 보여달라고 몇 번이나 요청하였으나, 제대로 된 정산내역서를 보지 못했습니다. 현 경영진이 임의로 작성한 몇 장만을 보여준 후 ‘다 보여줬다’고 하고 있으나 제가 활동해 번 출연료 등이 어떻게 쓰였는지 지금 이 순간에도 저는 정확히 알지 못하며 이는 비단 저만의 문제가 아닙니다. 심지어 저는 숙소의 월세와 관리비를 7개월에서 많게는 12개월까지 밀리기를 반복하며 결국 매일 단수와 단전으로 불편해하다가 퇴거조치를 당했습니다. 소송이라는 것이 너무나 두렵고, 경제적으로 변호사 비용도 부담하기 너무 힘든 상황이었기에 정말 마지막까지 참으려고 노력하였습니다. 하지만 회사 채권자에게 방송 출연료까지 압류를 당하면서, 더 이상 견딜 수 없어 결국 소송을 진행하기로 마음먹게 되었습니다. 전속 계약은 이미 해지된 상태인데 이제는 저에게 횡령을 운운하며 법적인 조치를 취할 것이라는 입장을 보이는 현 경영진에게는 매우 유감스러운 마음입니다. 저는 횡령을 하지 않았습니다. 이제는 오히려 제가 소송을 통하여 아직 받지 못한 돈들을 받고 저의 정당한 권리를 찾으려 합니다. 항상 기쁜 소식으로 찾아뵙고 싶은데 그러지 못해 죄송합니다. 하지만 저는 좌절하지 않고 정말 하루하루 열심히 살고 있습니다. 이겨내고 싶고, 또 이겨낼 것입니다. 두서없는 글 읽어주셔서 감사합니다.

A post shared by SLEEPY / 슬리피 (@sleepysta) on Sep 19, 2019 at 1:03am PDT

Sleepy filed a case in April 2019 to confirm his contract as invalid; in May, he filed a request to have his contract terminated. In his claim, Sleepy stated “The agency did not provide me with documents regarding payments and has never shown me a physical copy of our contract. My faith in them has broken down due to factors such as management issues.”

In TS Entertainment’s motion, they claim they paid Sleepy on the agreed upon dates and allegedly provided documents to support their claims.

In June, the Seoul Western District Court dismissed Sleepy’s contract nullification case, but in August, Sleepy and TS Entertainment agreed to part ways during another court mediation hearing. Through this mediation, TS Entertainment alleged Sleepy embezzled funds.

“Through the legal process, we terminated our contract with Sleepy,” a TS Entertainment representative said. “However, there are suspicions that Sleepy embezzled money from the agency such as through advertisement rates. We are planning to file a damage claim suit against him sometime between late September and early October.”

Sleepy, through Instagram and through Dispatch, denied the embezzlement claims. Following the claims, he released conversations he and TS Entertainment had along with a copy of his TS Entertainment contract to Dispatch to help show his side of the story. The contract contained information about profit splits, while the conversations addressed debts and payment issues.

Sleepy was with TS Entertainment for 13 years. On September 15, 2019, Korean media shared that Sleepy opened his own studio, PVO Entertainment, which stands for “Positive Vibes Only.” His rap crew with Liquor and JD shares the same name.

On September 22, Sleepy released “Trouble” featuring Bang Yongguk. The track, while short, addresses the issues with TS Entertainment.

With more court cases expected later this month and in October, The Sleepy-TS Entertainment saga appears to not be ending any time soon.

—-Olivia Murray

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