Seungri, ex member of Big Bang confirmed by top court for 18-month jail term

[Photo by Yonhap]

Seungri, once a K-pop idol and former member of longtime Korean favorite boy group Big Bang, has been sentenced to a prison term of 18 months for prostitution mediation, overseas gambling and other multiple charges.

The Seoul Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the lower court ruling, finding him guilty of all nine charges including prostitution, prostitution mediation, overseas gambling and misappropriation.

With the final ruling, Seungri or Lee Seung-hyun, 32, will be transferred to a civilian correctional institution from current military prison. He will be released in February 2023.

The epic scandal involving the star was initially triggered by suspicions that serious crimes including narcotics use and sexual violence were committed frequently at the Burning Sun club in Gangnam district in Seoul, which Seungri partly owned in 2018.

Since the indictment on the nine charges in January 2020, Seungri has been tried at military courts as he enlisted in the army during investigation for mandatory military duty in March 2020. He was sentenced three years in prison in the first military trial, but the appeals court reduced his sentence to one and a half years.

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