Disgraced former K-pop star Seungri is convicted of arranging prostitution and other charges stemming from a sex and drugs scandal.
Seungri was convicted of arranging sex services for potential investors in his business.
Earlier, Seungri (former member of K-pop boy band BIGBANG) was entangled in a series of sex and drug scandal scandals.
Seungri, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, was sentenced to a three-year prison term by a military court on multiple charges, according to media reports.
Seungri has been on trial in a military court, as he was recruited into the army in March 2020.
During the hearings, Seungri denied most of the charges.
Charges included rape, habitual gambling, violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, mediating prostitution, drug use and sales, sexual abuse, money laundering and violations of the Food Sanitation Act.
In early 2019, Seungri was entangled in a series of scandals. Under public pressure, Seungri was forced to leave the Big Bang group as well as the entertainment company YG Entertainment and quit.
The singer was also ordered to pay 1.15 billion won ($1 million) in restitution.
The investigation into the scandal surrounding him uncovered a spate of allegations against other musicians and personnel at YG Entertainment — Seungri’s former agency and one of the biggest K-pop management firms.
It prompted the agency CEO Yang Hyun-suk to step down, facing probes of his own into illicit gambling.
Reaction to the verdict was swift on Thursday, with many users online saying Seungri’s punishment was too light for the offences.
“While it is fortunate he is finally being jailed, the term is too short,” a user on Naver, the country’s largest portal, posted.
Another added: “It should’ve been 30 years, not three.”
The verdict came a month before he was due to be discharged from his mandatory military service.
He was convicted of arranging sex services for potential investors in his business, as well as overseas gambling at luxurious casinos in Las Vegas involving illicit foreign exchange transactions.
