Former BIGBANG member Seungri admits guilt on all charges, gets sentence lowered

An appeal trial before the High Court for Armed Forces has lowered former BIGBANG member Seungri's three-year prison sentence after the former idol admitted to all charges against him, which include prostitution mediation and special violence instigation.

In the first trial that convicted Seungri--real name Lee--the former BIGBANG member only acknowledged violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and denied eight other charges, which include violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes, violation of the Food Sanitation Act, embezzlement, violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes, habitual gambling, prostitution mediation, purchase of prostitution services, and special violence instigation.

The charges all stem from Seungri's involvement in the Burning Sun scandal, where Seungri offered Burning Sun investors prostitutes. Investigation into the scandal spiraled into allegations of spy cams and sexual assault allegations not just against Seungri but also other prominent idols in the K-pop industry, such as Jung Joon-young, Highlight's Yong Jung-hyung, and F.T. Island's Choi Jung-hoon, all of whom retired from the Korean entertainment industry alongside Seungri.

Jung Joon-young and Choi Jung-hoon had earlier been convicted and sentenced to six and five years in prison, respectively. The sentences were then reduced to five and two-and-a-half years, respectively.

Aside from his reduced sentence, Seungri was also fined 1,156,900,000 won, or around USD$994,544. Seungri is currently serving his prison sentence after being arrested by the court.

Seungri's sentencing was one of the biggest K-pop stories last year. Check out other big stories from K-pop in 2021 in the gallery below.