LATE last week, JTBC reported that charges had been filed on Feb 25 against “the mother of a famous celebrity” for 85 million won (RM289,404.87) worth of fraud in Seoul’s Bangbae Police Station.
In the report, it was said that the celebrity’s mother borrowed the amount from an acquaintance from February 2018 to September 2019, with promises of paying them back with high interest, which she later failed to do.
On Sunday, Youtuber Lee Jin-ho uploaded a video claiming that the woman in the case was in fact the mother of actress Han So-hee, who recently shot to fame as the star of the Netflix series My Name.
In the video, he interviewed Han’s mother about the fraud. According to the mother, the money she borrowed was desposited into a bank account under her daughter’s name, which was created when Han was a minor.
She admitted that she used her daughter’s bank account for a few months while hers was unavailable for transactions. It was reported that the actress’ mother and the plaintiff had a dispute over the total amount to be repaid, due to there not being a written contract.
During the interview, Han’s mother said: “It’s my fault for not repaying the borrowed money in time. I’ll work hard to repay my debts without filing for bankruptcy.”
Apparently, this isn’t the first time Han’s mother was involved in a debt collecting lawsuit.
Back in July 2020, Han said: “I learned about my mother’s debts after I turned 20 and I have been repaying her debts before my debut. I recently learned from debt collectors that my mother has been using my name to borrow money without paying back her debt. It’s my fault for thinking that I can resolve the issue by just repaying her debt but it only encouraged her to accrue more debts.”
Han’s agency 9ATO Entertainment also released a statement to clarify that the actress had no involvement in this case, and that all lawsuits are due to her mother taking advantage of her daughter’s name and identity.