Block B sues agency for lack of payment

Seven-member rookie hip-hop group Block B has filed a lawsuit against their talent agency for failure to pay the members in accordance with their contract. The suit, filed with the Seoul District Court, requests that their exclusive contract with Stardom Agency be nullified.

The lawsuit states that the group’s initial contract promised that on top of the agency providing training and facilities, the singers be paid on the 25th of every month. Block B claims that the members did not receive any such payments from their agency for about a year starting in April 2011.

In a press release, Stardom Entertainment claimed that the reason the members were not paid during that time was because they did not earn any profits.

“They were paid in full,” the press statement stated. “The exclusive contract states that profits would be distributed every month should they occur. There were no profits, therefore we couldn’t make any payments.”

The members of Block B also claim that an ex-employer of the agency who claimed to be the CEO had falsely collected 70 million won from the boys’ parents for promotion and production costs before leaving the company with the money.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)