[5] He gained spotlight for his "good boy" image, supported by the fact that he was one of the few people who were not involved in the weed scandal among Korean celebrities in 1975, and his high academic credentials in Seoul National University.

[citation needed] In the early 1980s, Lee decided to leave the entertainment world in order to pursue a career in computer engineering.

He went abroad to work on a master's degree at California State University, Northridge,[10] where he witnessed the rise of "superstars of the MTV generation" such as Michael Jackson.

[1] Inspired by the heyday of MTV in the United States, Lee set his sights on laying the foundation for the modern Korean pop music industry.

In 1989, after four years of saving money and gaining experience in the industry, he established an entertainment company called SM Studio (named after his initials) in the Apgujeong neighborhood of Seoul, and signed singer Hyun Jin-young.

[12] In February 2010, Lee resigned from his position as a member of SM's board of directors, but maintained a role in the company's "management and artist development" divisions.

[22] On 3 February 2023, SM said that they would restructure the company without the help of Lee, adopting a multi-production center system to replace his role as chief producer.

In the video, he claimed that Lee had founded a company called CT Planning Limited in Hong Kong in 2019 to evade taxes, through which he was taking 6% of earnings from artists' overseas activities.

He also said that Lee wanted to force artists to publicly declare his importance to the company and attempted to insert environmental references into songs to promote his business interests.

[29] Lacking the funds of their competitor, Hybe eventually withdrew from the takeover battle, enabling Kakao to become the largest shareholder and obtain management rights.

[35] On 8 March 2022, he donated ₩500 million to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association to help those affected by the massive wildfires that started in Uljin, Gyeongbuk.

[38] Lee tried to escape prosecution by staying overseas from June 2002, and was found in a golf course in Los Angeles on 2 August in the same year.

He was mentioned 399 times across 280 documents, tying him to eight paper companies in Hong Kong, five of which used a nominee service to conceal the source of their funds.

[50] Lee and SM were investigated by the National Tax Service following suspicions that he had omitted financial information and leaked company money in corporate transactions.