The 30-year-old singer, who retired from the entertainment industry in 2019 at the height of the Burning Sun scandal, was found guilty of nine different counts against him by a military court.
Seungri, a former member of K-pop boy group Big Bang who was accused of arranging sexual services for rich clients at the Burning Sun nightclub he owned in Seoul, has been sentenced to three years in prison on multiple charges including prostitution mediation.
The verdict was reported by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency last Thursday.
The 30-year-old singer, who retired from the entertainment industry in 2019 at the height of the Burning Sun scandal, was found guilty of nine different counts against him by a military court.
The nine charges are a violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes, violation of the Food Sanitation Act, embezzlement, violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes, habitual gambling, violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, prostitution mediation, purchase of prostitution services, and special violence instigation.
The court revealed that Seungri will now be facing three years of jail time and a 1.15 billion KRW ($990,000) fine.
Seungri continues to stand firm on his innocence, reiterating that it was his business partner that initiated all the illegal activities.
This statement was regarded as an attempt to “shift blame” during the hearing, which ultimately led to the final verdict.
What started off as a police investigation into a nightclub quickly spiralled into something much bigger and in the eye of the storm was one of the most prominent names in the K-pop industry, Seungri.
Before his legal troubles, Seungri was the youngest member of the popular K-pop boy band Big Bang. From 2006 to 2019, the singer reportedly made millions of dollars before leaving the group after the prostitution accusations started to make headlines.
Big Bang has long been praised for its major impact in the world of K-pop and for building YG Entertainment into what we know it as right now.
They have the same entertainment agency as the biggest K-Pop girl group in the world with BlackPink.
Tags: #Seungri, #BurningSunscandal, #prostitution