The owner of a popular bar in Boulder has agreed to surrender the bar’s liquor license amid a police investigation into reports of sexual assault and drugging at the bar.

Scrooge Sul, located at 1149 13th St., near the University of Colorado campus, was closed as Boulder police announced the department was investigating the allegations, which involved underage girls. Boulder’s Beverage Licensing Authority also accused the bar and its owner, Min-kyu Kim, of selling alcohol to people under the age of 21 at least 17 times, in addition to other violations.

There were multiple instances of underage people who were able to get into the bar and buy alcohol using a fake ID, or were let into the bar without an ID check, according to a Boulder Police Department affidavit included in a BLA agenda packet for a hearing regarding the bar. Police later learned that the ID scanner utilized by the bar was not working properly, allowing for fake IDs to be scanned as legitimate. The officer wrote in the affidavit that when checking the last 50 IDs scanned by the machine, only four were determined to be valid.

Other violations Kim is accused of include moving tables and chairs in the bar multiple times to create a dance floor, for which he did not have the proper license, and posting an inaccurate occupancy limit and repeatedly going over the 36-person maximum capacity limit. Kim was aware of the issue with the scanner and had been warned repeatedly about the modification and capacity issues, but did not make attempts to fix them, the affidavit said.

Kim was ordered to attend a virtual BLA hearing to argue against a liquor license suspension, the packet said. In response, Kim denied the allegations of underage drinking, not properly checking IDs and the reports of drugging, but said he would voluntarily surrender his license because he felt he could no longer maintain business operations in the environment caused by the allegations.

In an agreement with the BLA dated April 10, Kim agreed he would not seek a new liquor license or hotel-restaurant license for at least 10 years. The agreement also included stipulations that Kim not contest the violations.

Boulder police said Wednesday the investigation into the reports of sexual assault and drugging is still open. The affidavit said of the 74 calls for service to Scrooge Sul between March 1, 2025, and March 11, 2026, only two of the calls were related to sexual assault or drugging. A department spokesperson did not say if any arrests have been made.