Ex-Big Bang singer Seungri, former K-pop boss may face gambling charges over Las Vegas hotel casino jaunts
- After sex and drug scandals that led K-pop star and YG Entertainment boss to quit music industry, police recommend pair be prosecuted for habitual gambling
- Seungri and Yang Hyun-suk gambled hundreds of thousands of US dollars during frequent trips to Las Vegas, police investigators say
Seungri, a former member of K-pop boy band Big Bang, and Yang Hyun-suk, the scandal-ridden former head of South Korean entertainment giant YG Entertainment, each spent several hundred million won gambling abroad, police said as they wrapped up a months-long investigation.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it would refer Yang and Seungri to prosecutors with a recommendation that they be indicted on charges of habitual gambling. But the police agency said it would not recommend charges related to suspected foreign-exchange-law violations.
Police investigators said Yang and Seungri had gambled in Las Vegas once or twice a year since the second half of 2014, the earliest date a prosecution would still be valid under the statute of limitations.
Under South Korean law, citizens are not allowed to place bets within the country, or even gamble at casinos in foreign countries.
The amount of money spent by Yang and Seungri reportedly reached several hundred million won and 1 billion won (US$823,000) respectively.
