[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Producer An Jun-young (PD), who was arrested and indicted on charges of manipulating votes for trainees while producing and broadcasting Mnet's audition program 'Produce 101' series, was sentenced to imprisonment in the first trial.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21 (Presiding Judge Kim Mi-ri) sentenced PD An, who was tried on charges including fraud, to 1 year in prison and a fine of about 37 million won on the 29th.
Chief Producer (CP) Kim Yong-beom, who was also indicted, was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months.
PD An and others are accused of manipulating the results of paid text votes from viewers during the live competitions of 'Produce 101' seasons 1 to 4, giving benefits to specific candidates.
PD An is also accused of receiving entertainment expenses worth tens of millions of won multiple times from entertainment agency officials since last year (bribery and breach of trust).
PD An and others have admitted most of the allegations such as rank manipulation during the trial but claimed that it was not done out of personal greed and that they never received any illicit requests.
In his final statement, PD An said, "Regardless of the process, I thought the results should be good so that the efforts of the trainees and staff who participated in the program would not be in vain," adding, "I feel very ashamed and resentful of myself."
Meanwhile, the prosecution is continuing related investigations, including summoning Kim Kwang-soo, CP of PocketDol Studio, who was involved in the Produce vote manipulation, as a suspect on the 22nd.
He is accused of instructing employees of the entertainment agency, which he was effectively representing during Produce season 1, to concentrate votes on affiliated trainees using multiple pseudonymous IDs.
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