Seungri officially admits all charges, gets half his prison sentence

The once popular male idol admitted to all crimes.

According to Nocut News on January 27, the High Military Court of the Ministry of National Defense held an appeal hearing against Seungri and sentenced him to 1 year and 6 months in prison. In early August last year, the court sentenced the BIGBANG member to 3 years in prison for 9 counts, including prostitution, and ordered him to pay a fine of 1.1 billion KRW.

Seungri was not satisfied with the verdict of the first trial, so he appealed in October 2021. He was originally scheduled to be discharged from the army on September 16, but after an appeal, the Military Court conducted an additional trial and Seungri is currently being detained in the Armed Forces.

Seungri was accused of committing 9 serious crimes. It is reported that at the 2nd trial, Seungri admitted all charges and expressed his intention to self-criticize. Thanks to this reason, the court significantly reduced Seungri's sentence from 3 years in prison to 1 year and 6 months.

If Seungri accepts this verdict, he will be released after completing his sentence for another year because he had already served about 5 months before. Seungri's allegations include:

1. Buy sex.

2. Organized prostitution brokerage many times for investors from Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong,..etc.

3. Embezzlement: Embezzled 528 million won from Burning Sun club and 22 million won from Yuri Holdings.

4. Gambling: Spending 2.2 billion won gambling many times at hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, USA.

5. Violation of Foreign Exchange Transactions Act: Failure to declare when borrowing $1 million worth of chips to gamble.

6. Inciting special violence: While drinking with friends at a pub in Gangnam, Seoul, sent a gangster to threaten other customers due to an argument.

7. Violation of the Food Sanitation Act: Monkey Museum and Burning Sun club business registration is a restaurant instead of a bar.

8. Violation of the Sex Crimes Act by spreading hidden camera content: Sharing sexually suggestive images in a group chat room with Jung Joon Young and some others.

In the first instance trial, Seungri did not admit to most of the charges, only admitting Violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act; even claimed that he was unjustly accused of brokering prostitution due to a typo. However, in the appeal court, media reported, the former BIGBANG member admitted all and expressed his remorse.

On February 19, 2021, Seungri attended the 10th hearing related to the Burning Sun scandal. At the hearing, the evidence against the male idol continued to be presented by the prosecution. The appearance of a CCTV tape also made the public stir.

Worth mentioning, Seungri continues to be accused of colluding with a gangster to assault employees of rival entertainment company JYP Entertainment. In this trial, the prosecutor submitted to the judge extremely important evidence, a CCTV recording of the entire incident, including the appearance of Seungri.

The video shows Seungri talking to the victim in a private room at a nightclub, with a group of men, and then there is a conflict between them. This group of people includes members of the Kakao Talk chat group with Seungri, Jung Joon Young and Choi Jonghun (former FT.Island member). Not long after, the former director of Yuri Holdings - Yoo In Suk was also present at the scene.

Later, four other men believed to be gang members were also present. CCTV footage shows the victim being threatened by gang members in an alley outside the nightclub. The group quickly withdrew before the police arrived.

Previously, it was reported that the victim of this incident was an employee of one of Korea's leading entertainment companies, JYP Entertainment. Therefore, Seungri actively contacted the former director of YG as well as the CEO of JYP through the chat group on Kakao Talk to solve the case.

Choi Jong Hoon cryingly apologized to Seungri in court for his testimony team youtuber11:41:55 01/05/2021Choi Jong Hoon (former FTIsland member) was present in court as a witness in the Burning Sun case involving Seungri (former member) BIGBANG). Here, Choi Jong Hoon even burst into tears, apologizing to Seungri. This action surprised people and did not understand the hidden love behind. Choi Jong Hoon was in tears