Beginning from yesterday, SM Entertainment sure has been saying a lot in regards to the DBSK lawsuit snafu that’s been going on these past few months. A week or so ago, the income division stats from DBSK’s contract were released to the public. which incited much reaction. Therefore, when SM held a press conference yesterday to address the court order issued in favor of DBSK, many presumed that the unethical contracts would be the topic of choice.
However, this proved to not be the case. Although SM Entertainment CEO, Kim Young-min, did briefly address the length of the contract, most of his statements were directed towards Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu’s involvement with a cosmetic company called Crebeau. In short, SM claimed that the trio had made significant investments in Crebeau without SM’s knowledge, which then caused legal damage towards SM. SM also claims that the trio were belligerent towards SM in regards to their relationship with Crebeau, and would not allow SM to see their contracts with Crebeau. From what one can judge from the press conference, SM Entertainment is using Crebeau as their primary defense in this lawsuit. The trio, on the other hand, has said that they have since pulled out of relations with Crebeau, and that the core of the issue are the unlawful ’slave’ contracts, not the cosmetics company.
Now, Crebeau has released their official stance regarding their role in the case…and it is not SM-friendly.
To preface, it should be noted that SM has used Crebeau as their primary defense since the beginning of the lawsuit, an action that Crebeau has denounced. On October 4th, Crebeau CEO Kang Suk-won sued Kim Young-min on charges of slander.
Kang Suk-won stated that the lawsuit was exclusively regarding the unfair income division between DBSK members and SM, and that Crebeau was a completely irrelevant factor in the case. He then accused SM of trying to place the blame squarely on Crebeau.
The CEO then proceeded to reveal the ‘real’ details of the trio’s relation with Crebeau. It was revealed that Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu had invested between USD$40,000 and $70,000 in the company, which was not nearly enough for them to gain any sort of ownership to the business, let alone raise personal profit.
Crebeau’s statement then revealed that SME representatives had paid a visit to Crebeau’s headquarters in China twice and, after review, found the trio’s contract with Crebeau to be non-conflicting with their contract with SM. Kang emphasized that SM’s current beef with Crebeau is due to the trio’s Crebeau contract infringing upon their SM contract. The SM representatives’ reactions at the time, however, contradicts such claims.
“The members wouldn’t risk all the things that they gained as TVXQ by creating a conflict with their company over insignificant investments. It was a private investment,” stated the CEO. “The three have no ownership over the business in any way. They’re merely investors…What does this have to do with the lawsuit, and why is SME attempting to connect the two together?”
Crebeau then stated that SM’s legal involvement of the cosmetic company led to significant business damages in Crebeau’s performance abroad, especially in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, and the United States. Additionally, considering that many Crebeau employees and execs view Crebeau as their only source of income, Kang stated that SM should have thought further about the implications of their actions before putting an innocent company and its employees at risk.
“If SM’s company and its profits are so important that they are willing to harm others for it, then SME should recognize that it is the same for others,” Kang stated.
So considering this newest statement regarding the lawsuit, as well as SM’s dependence on Crebeau as a supposed trump card, what does this mean for SM’s status in their court battle? Many are speculating that, with their one legal platform kicked out from underneath them, SM will start targeting the unity of DBSK members themselves, accompanied by attempts to manipulate public opinion regarding the members, since it seems that the DBSK members are the only valuable device that SM has that can be ‘used’ to their advantage. Yunho and Changmin’s personal statements, whether genuine or otherwise, seem to have already been wielded as one of SM’s weapons. What will come next? That seems to be the question of the hour, as DBSK fans everywhere anxiously await developments.
credit: http://seoulbeats.com/2009/11/crebeau-speaks-up-on-dbsk-lawsuit/
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