L.A. County Registrar records shows

By Kim Sang-mok

In the midst of S.M. Entertainment’s ongoing tax evasion investigation, more questions have come to light, this time concerning the entertainment giant’s 2013 purchase of a building for what it announced last year would become the “SMTOWN Museum.”

The property, located in Los Angeles’s Koreatown on 6th St. and Oxford, is registered not to S.M. Entertainment USA per the company’s announcement last year but to Creative Space Development Property, LLC.

According to L.A. County Registrar records, the building was purchased in cash for $4 million by Creative Space on July 26 last year.

Creative Space is registered under the same address as the one for S.M.’s U.S. office, and both companies have the same president, Han.

Seven companies are registered under the location of S.M.’s office on Wilshire Blvd., those being S.M. Entertainment USA, Creative Space Development Property, LLC., Creative Space Development, LLC., Creative Space Entertainment, Inc., Creative Space Innovation, LLC., S.M. Innovative Amusement, LLC. and S.M. Innovative Holdings, Inc.

Of the seven, only S.M. Entertainment USA is registered as a foreign company, according to the records. The other six are listed as domestic.

S.M., whose talents include K-Pop mega-stars Girls’ Generation, TVXQ, Super Junior, EXO, BoA and SHINee, is currently undergoing investigation by Korea’s National Tax Service for allegedly establishing paper companies in foreign countries in their artists’ names and failing to file for taxes on profits from their overseas performances.

Last year, the company made $26.91 million in sales.