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Burning Sun scandal: Seungri sentenced to 3 years jail in prostitution and gambling case

The case had been going on since 2019 when Seungri was found to be embroiled in a fraud and prostitution scandal

K-pop idol Seungri has been found guilty by a military court in the infamous 'Burning Sun' trial. Despite his plea of innocence, the former BIGBANG member was convicted on all 9 charges that were brought against him and sentenced 3 years in jail.

The case had been going on since 2019 when Seungri was found to be embroiled in a fraud and prostitution scandal. In July 2021, there were new developments as Seungri came up with a new statement. The military court had charged him on 9 counts - from embezzlement of fraud to enabling prostitution and illegal gambling in his club Burning Sun. 

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Seungri to be jailed for 3 years

The prosecution was seeking 5-years of jail as they did not appreciate him shifting the blame instead of taking responsibility. However, Seungri stood his ground and denied eight of the charges except the one accusing him of violating Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. He even cried in court and stated that he was sorry to his former group BIGBANG and that he would “promise to be reborn.” Unfortunately, on the same day, new evidence came to light.

While we do not know if it was admissible in court, South Korean news agency Dispatch somehow got a hold of Seungri’s chats on the Kakao chat room with a group of businessmen involved in the scandal. In June 2021, Seungri claimed that one of his messages that encouraged prostitution was a typo since he never meant to type the word “girls.” However, Dispatch released screenshots of the whole chat which does not do any favors to Seungri as he supposedly continues to talk about entertaining some businessmen by inviting some girls nor does he correct his 'typo' anywhere.

On August 12, 2021, it was revealed that he emphatically denied the prostitution charges. However, the judge refuted Seungri’s claims that he did not know he was involved in a transaction regarding prostitution. The former idol is currently detained and has been taken into legal custody after the verdict. The singer was also ordered to pay 1.15bn won ($1m) in restitution, AFP reported. The verdict got mixed reactions as fans blamed the judicial system for failing since they believed that the evidence and witness statements pointed at Seungri being innocent. Meanwhile, other netizens were glad that the ordeal was finally over.

'Seungri vs. the Korean jurisdiction' 

A fan tweeted, “This is not about the burning sun scandal issue anymore but more of seungri vs. the korean jurisdiction. he was proven NOT GUILTY by evidence found and by the victims themselves. YET, SOKOR judicial system chose to put the blame to someone. seungri deserves true justice!” Another fan added, “Evidence : not Seungri Witnesses: not Seungri Perpetrator : not Seungri Judge: Seungri did it.” 

A user tweeted, “I can't believe people still support that criminal Seungri, someone who has hurt so many people with his actions. Ya'll stan and support things that you won't tolerate if it happened to you and it's sad.” Another added, “Big bang stans are the worst thing I ever see seungri literally found guilty and going to jail and they still defend him????? I'm going to throw up.”

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