Employees at Hybe, the management agency of BTS, have been referred to the prosecution on charges of insder trading.

Special judicial police under the Financial Supervisory Service said on Wednesday that they referred the case to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, recommending the indictment of three employees at Hybe including a team director who was in charge of K-pop group-related affairs.
 
The accused are found to have dumped their stocks before the news broke to the general public that BTS was temporarily going on hiatus, thereby avoiding losses of some 230 million won, or some 173-thousand U.S. dollars.

BTS announced the news in a YouTube video on June 14 of last year, instigating a 25-percent drop in Hybe's stock as some two trillion won in market value was wiped out.

The share price began to fall in the days leading up to the video release, prompting suspicion among minority shareholders of insider trading.

The Financial Supervisory Service said that in the case of listed entertainment firms, future plans of their artists greatly impact share prices. The agency called for transparent disclosures, investor protection and measures to prevent staff members from using undisclosed information.