BIGBANG’s Seungri Jailed over Prostitution, Illegal Gambling

On Thursday, Former South Korean K-pop star, known as Seungri, was sentenced to three years in prison for gambling and organizing sex work.

SBS News reported that Seungri was sentenced to 3 years in prison by the General Military Court and has been officially taken into legal custody on the charges of mediating prostitution and illegal gambling.

Seungri has also been ordered to pay 1.15 billion Won ($988,627.17 USD) in fines. The K-pop star previously faced up to 5 years in prison for the prostitution charges.

The court ruled that he "repeatedly arranged prostitution for foreign investors and benefited from it. The crimes committed by the accused, who commercialized sex and violated customs, are not small in social harm."

Since the 'Burning Sun' scandal in 2019, the former Big Bang member has been undergoing investigation and trial for procurement and mediation of prostitution.

He is believed to be involved in several crimes such as; embezzlement of business funds, attempted destruction of evidence, distribution of illegally filmed footage, illegally filming women, illegal gambling, and violating food sanitation laws.