Former BigBang member Seungri completes 18-month jail term
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Seungri was indicted in January 2020 over his involvement in the Burning Sun scandal.
PHOTO: MUSIC MATTERS LIVE
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SEOUL – Seungri, a former member of K-pop boy band BigBang, was released from Yeoju Prison in South Korea’s Gyeonggi province on Thursday after completing his 18-month sentence, according to the country’s Ministry of Justice.
Seungri, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, was indicted in January 2020 over his involvement in the Burning Sun scandal, a far-reaching sex and drug scandal, since 2018.
The 32-year-old singer began his military service during the trial and was sentenced to three years in prison in a military court in August 2021.
Seungri was convicted on nine charges, including arranging sex trafficking for foreign investors in 2015 and misappropriating funds from Burning Sun, a nightclub in Gangnam to which he was affiliated.
The court also found him guilty of eight accounts of illicit gambling involving some 2.2 billion won (S$2.3 million) between 2013 and 2017.
Two other former entertainers were also convicted in the Burning Sun scandal.
Choi Jong-hoon, formerly of K-pop group FT Island, was released in 2021 after two years and six months in prison. South Korean singer Jung Joon-young’s prison term ends in October 2025.
Seungri began his career as a member of BigBang in 2006, drawing global fame with a number of hits.
He left the group – which now consists of G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang and Daesung – in 2019 after the scandal broke. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
