Seungri (32, real name Lee Seung-hyun), a former member of the group Big Bang, was released on the morning of the 9th after serving his full sentence. He was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison for habitual gambling and mediation of prostitution, among other charges.
According to a report by Yonhap News, Seungri was released at 5 a.m. from Yeoju Prison on that day. Seungri was a key figure in the so-called 'Burning Sun scandal' that occurred in 2019. He was indicted on charges including habitual gambling, violation of the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic (prostitution, mediation of prostitution, filming using cameras, etc.), and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. His guilt was confirmed by the Supreme Court in May of last year.
Former Big Bang member Seungri was released on full term from Yeoju Prison on the 9th. The photo shows Seungri appearing at the police station in August 2019.
He is accused of arranging prostitution several times for investors from Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and other countries from December 2015 to January of the following year to attract investment in clubs and financial investment businesses, and also of purchasing sexual services himself. Additionally, he embezzled about 528 million won from the club 'Burning Sun' under the pretext of using the 'Monkey Museum' brand in a pub in Gangnam, Seoul, and also misappropriated about 20 million won of company funds from Yuri Holdings for employees' attorney fees. Furthermore, he was charged with using about 2.2 billion won while gambling at a hotel casino in Las Vegas, USA, from 2013 to 2017, and lending chips worth about 1 million dollars as gambling funds without any report. In total, nine charges were applied to Seungri, and all were found guilty from the first trial to the third trial.
The court rejected two arrest warrants, so Seungri was indicted without detention in January 2020, and he was tried in a military court after enlisting in the 5th Artillery Brigade in March of the same year. In August 2021, the first trial at the Ground Operations Command Ordinary Military Court sentenced Seungri to 3 years in prison, and he was detained in court. In January 2022, the High Military Court accepted Seungri's claim that the punishment was too heavy and reduced the sentence to 1 year and 6 months, and the Supreme Court confirmed the same sentence in May of that year.
Afterward, Seungri, who was imprisoned in the military prison as a soldier, was transferred to a civilian prison due to forced discharge. According to the Military Service Act, soldiers who receive a confirmed sentence of 1 year and 6 months or more are automatically discharged.
Seungri debuted in the music industry in 2006 as a member of the group Big Bang and actively promoted as a K-pop star with several hit songs such as 'Lies,' 'Bang Bang Bang,' and 'Haru Haru.'
However, he fell into controversy and eventually left the team in March 2019 after various allegations, including sexual crimes, surfaced at the club 'Burning Sun' in Gangnam, Seoul, where he was a company director.
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