Former BIGBANG member Seungri has been sentenced to five years in prison for nine charges.
On Aug. 9, it was announced that Seungri will receive a five-year sentence during today's hearing. It is just over a month before his military discharge and it is uncertain whether or not he will be recognized as a "Sergeant" after today's sentencing.
Former BIGBANG Seungri Receives Five-Year Prison Sentence for Nine Charges
Back in February 2019, former BIGBANG Seungri was cited as the main figure in the "Burning Sun" scandal. He was then indicted in January 2020 after being investigated by prosecutors and police for approximately a year.
Seungri was indicted without final detention following the rejection of two arrest warrants, and later enlisted in the military in March 2020, and has been on trial for 11 months as a soldier.
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At the 25th hearing on July 1 this year that took place at the Joint Military Court of the Ground Operations Command in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, the military prosecution requested a sentence of five years in prison, together with 20 million won (nearly 17,650 USD) fine for former BIGBANG Seungri.
The prosecution explained that Seungri committed crimes consistently over several years. Because of these claimed crimes, Seungri has been indicted for nine charges.
Seungri's charges include embezzlement, habitual gambling, purchase of prostitution services, prostitution mediation, special violence instigation, the violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes, violation of Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, violation of the Food Sanitation Act, and violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes.
Out of these nine charges, former BIGBANG member Seungri denied eight of them, but he admitted to a violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
In response to the request of the military prosecution, Seungri's lawyer stated that the public made up numerous charges filed against his client (Seungri). He added that the investigative company should make their judgment through careful verification, not by the opinion of the public.
Seungri's lawyer went on to say that the prosecution and investigative agencies must present strict proof of the certain facts of the charges against the former K-pop idol.
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With a heavy sentence, Seungri was promoted to sergeant in early June. His military discharge is set to be just over a month from now. The possibility of his full-time discharge is unpredictable as he might be transferred to wartime service.
As stated in Article 137 of the Enforcement Decree of the Military Service Act, those who will receive a sentence of imprisonment or imprisonment without prison that will last for more than one year and six months will be transferred to wartime service and forcefully discharged from the military.
Former BIGBANG Seungri's Charges
From December 2015 to January 2016, Seungri was charged with organizing prostitution several times to investors from various countries such as Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan to draw investments for clubs and financial investment businesses.
At that time, Seungri was also indicted of purchasing sex by himself (violation of the Punishment of Acts of Prostitution, etc.)
Regarding the prostitution mediation charge, the former BIGBANG member stated that he didn't know anything about it and that he only found out about it during the investigation.
And about the message that he sent, "[Get a] woman who gives well" to the group chat when a Taiwanese businesswoman visited Korea, he stated that it must have been an auto-correction on his iPhone.
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In addition to this, Seungri was alleged to have embezzled 528 million won from the fund of the "Burning Sun" club under the name of the trademark royalties for "Monkey Museum," a pub located in Gangnam, Seoul. It was also claimed that he stole 22 million won from the company.
Concerning his gambling, Seungri visited the United States once or twice for performances in Las Vegas. He spent a total of 2.2 billion won to gamble at casinos and hotels from December 2013 to August 2017.
Finally, about the allegation that he called a gang to strike back at the person who got into a fight at a drinking party in December 2015, Seungri denied it and stated that he just encountered the gang for the first time during the investigation.
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Written by Mhaliya Scott
