Former K-pop star Seungri jailed for three years for arranging prostitutes, illegal gambling overseas
- The fallen K-pop star was convicted of facilitating prostitution for investors in a scandal centred on Seoul’s Burning Sun nightclub
- A military court also convicted Seungri of illegal gambling overseas in the United States at the end of a lengthy trial that began in March 2020
Disgraced South Korean pop star Seungri was handed a prison sentence for prostitution-related and gambling offences on Thursday.
Seungri, born Lee Seung-hyun, was found guilty on all nine counts against him. He was sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of facilitating prostitution for investors, and also for gambling overseas using illegal foreign exchanges.
He was also ordered to pay 1.15 billion Korean won (US$1 million) in restitution.
It is hard to see the defendant was not aware of financial payments paid to the women for sex. It appears that he carried out systematic sexual prostitution
The star denied most charges during the court proceedings.
According to South Korean media outlet Yonhap, the military court said: “The defendant [Seungri] arranged sexual favours for foreign investors on many occasions in collusion with his business partner Yoo In-suk and gained benefits as a result. His crime of commercialising sex and violating our traditional custom has caused no small harm to our society.”