The long-running contract dispute involving K-pop girl group NewJeans may have reached a turning point, with five of the original five members confirmed to be returning as a unit, with the exception of Danielle Marsh.
Danielle and NewJeans’ creator and former CEO Min Hee Jin are currently facing a civil lawsuit worth 43.1 billion won (S$38.08 million).
On January 28, Hee Jin, through her lawyers, publicly addressed for the first time widespread rumours accusing her of “illegally poaching” NewJeans, denying the claims at a press conference in Seoul.
According to them, the narrative that she attempted to take NewJeans for personal gain is false. Instead, they alleged the situation was “a scam against the general public”, driven by a family member of a NewJeans member and certain corporate figures whose intention was to manipulate. stock prices.
“Min Hee-jin and NewJeans were merely tools caught in the crossfire,” said Hee Jin’s lawyer.
The “illegal poaching” controversy first erupted in April 2024, when HYBE, the parent company of ADOR, launched an audit into Hee Jin, accusing her of attempting to separate NewJeans from the parent company.
Four months later, she was removed as CEO of ADOR.
They also alleged that HYBE executives appeared to be aware of the situation early on, yet took no steps to intervene.
HYBE is also the parent company to other labels such as Big Hit Music (BTS, Cortis), Pledis Entertainment (Seventeen, TWS), and Belift Lab (Enhypen).
When pressed by reporters, Hee Jin’s legal team stopped short of accusing HYBE of orchestrating the entire incident, saying he was only raising “reasonable suspicion”, not making a definitive claim.
During the press conference, Hee Jin’s legal team also presented audio recordings and message logs, tracing the origins of the controversy to June 2024, roughly two months after HYBE launched an internal audit into Hee Jin.
Back then, the father of a NewJeans member reportedly told Hee Jin that his older brother had strong ties to HYBE executives and could help “mediate” the situation, even sharing contact details.
The legal team then claimed that this relative later introduced several so-called corporate figures through intermediaries, and Hee Jin reportedly spoke to them briefly on the phone.
Hee Jin also allegedly attended a single three-party meeting lasting about an hour, though her lawyer stressed that no discussions about investments, group transfers or poaching took place.
It was said that Hee Jin cut off all contact shortly after becoming suspicious of their intentions.
Another audio recording was also released at the press conference, allegedly depicting Hee Jin as expressing no familiarity or interest in listed tech companies such as Tera Science and Davolink, further undermining claims that she was involved in any investment-related plans.
Tera Science and Davolink have been linked to a suspected stock manipulation scheme intended to exploit the NewJeans brand.
This is just the latest after November 2025 when NewJeans held a press conference announcing the termination of their contracts with ADOR, citing a breakdown of trust.
ADOR subsequently filed a lawsuit to confirm the validity of the exclusive contracts and won at the first-instance court, which rejected the group’s claims in full.