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Former Big Bang member Seungri leaves Seoul Central District Court after a warrant review in January 2020. (Herald DB) |
Seungri, a former member of K-pop boy band Big Bang, was released from Yeoju Prison in Gyeonggi Province on Thursday after completing his 18-month sentence, according to the 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 33-year-old singer began his military service during trial and was sentenced to three years in prison in a military court. The punishment was mitigated to 18 months in the higher court and the term was finalized in the Supreme Court in May.
Lee 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 ($1.7 million) between 2013 and 2017.
Of the two other former entertainers convicted in the Burning Sun scandal, Choi Jong-hoon of K-pop band FT Island was released in 2021, after two years and six months in prison. Singer Jung Joon-young's prison term ends in October 2025.
The former Big Bang member began his career as an original member in 2006, drawing global fame with a number of hits. He left the band in 2019 after the scandal broke.
