Supreme Court Confirms Big Bang's Seungri's 1 Year 6 Months Prison Sentence for 'Procuring Prostitution and Habitual Gambling'... To Be Imprisoned in Private Prison Until February Next Year

"Chips Borrowed from Casino Are Not Subject to Confiscation or Forfeiture under Foreign Exchange Transactions Act"

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, legal affairs specialist] The guilty verdict against Seungri (real name Lee Seung-hyun, 32), a singer formerly of the group 'Big Bang,' on charges including mediation of prostitution and habitual gambling has been finalized.

On the 26th, the Supreme Court's 1st Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) held a sentencing hearing for Seungri, who was indicted on nine charges including habitual gambling, violation of the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic (prostitution and mediation of prostitution, filming using cameras, etc.), embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, incitement to special assault, violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, violation of the Food Sanitation Act, and embezzlement in the course of business. The court upheld the lower court's ruling recognizing all charges as guilty and sentenced him to 1 year and 6 months in prison.

Regarding the confiscation of chips borrowed from the casino, which was a point of contention, the Supreme Court maintained the second trial's judgment that these chips are not foreign payment instruments subject to reporting under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and therefore cannot be subject to confiscation or seizure.

Seungri is accused of mediating prostitution multiple times targeting investors from Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, etc., from December 2015 to January of the following year to attract investment in clubs and financial investment businesses, and also of personally purchasing prostitution services. He is also charged with posting nude photos in a KakaoTalk chatroom that included singer Jung Joon-young and others. The indictment also includes a charge that in late December 2015, while drinking with acquaintances at a pub in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, he got into a dispute with another customer and informed Yoo In-seok, former CEO of Yuri Holdings, who then mobilized gangsters to assault the other party.

Additionally, he is accused of violating the Food Sanitation Act by operating an unauthorized entertainment bar and embezzling approximately 528 million KRW from the club 'Burning Sun' under the pretext of brand usage fees for the Gangnam pub 'Monkey Museum.' He is also charged with embezzling about 20 million KRW of Yuri Holdings company funds under the pretext of personal attorney fees for employees.

At the Supreme Court, only the habitual gambling charge and the violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, which Seungri's side contested as grounds for appeal, were disputed.

Between 2013 and 2017, Seungri gambled eight times playing 'Baccarat' at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, with total stakes amounting to approximately 2.2 billion KRW. On June 16, 2017, he borrowed chips worth about 1 million USD (approximately 1.1795 billion KRW) from casino management to gamble but failed to report this to the Minister of Strategy and Finance, violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, which requires reporting transactions exceeding 1 billion KRW.

The first instance military court recognized all charges as guilty in August last year, sentenced Seungri to 3 years in prison, and ordered his immediate detention. It also ordered the confiscation of about 1.15 billion KRW related to the 1 million USD worth of chips borrowed from the casino.

However, the second instance High Military Court accepted Seungri's argument that the punishment was too severe and reduced the sentence to 1 year and 6 months. Furthermore, it ruled that casino chips are used only within the casino and are not foreign payment instruments subject to reporting under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, so they cannot be subject to confiscation or seizure. Unlike the first instance, it did not order confiscation. The Supreme Court also agreed with this judgment by the second trial court. It also recognized Seungri's habitual gambling tendency and upheld the habitual gambling charge.

This case became publicly known in November 2018 as the so-called 'Burning Sun Gate.'

Seungri was indicted in January 2020 but enlisted in the 5th Artillery Brigade about a month later. Originally, he was scheduled to be discharged in September last year before the first trial sentencing, but due to a suspension of discharge under the Military Service Act, he has continued to be tried while still in military service.

With the guilty verdict finalized on this day, Seungri, currently held in pretrial detention at the military prison, will be transferred to a civilian prison as he is reclassified as a wartime labor service personnel and will serve his sentence until February 2023. The Enforcement Decree of the Military Service Act stipulates that persons sentenced to imprisonment or detention for 1 year and 6 months or longer must be reclassified as wartime labor service personnel.