The popular band of K-pop, BIG BANG’s former member, Seungri, has resigned from his band. He was the youngest member of the famous K-pop band “BIG BANG.” He was very fond of dancing from a young age. He has been sentenced to three years in prison. Let’s have an insight into why he is in prison as well as where he is now?
What Happened To Ex-Big Bang Star Seungri?
At the Army’s general military court in Yongin, an ex-member of BIG BANG was sentenced to a three-year prison because of an unlicensed adult entertainment establishment and embezzlement which was involved in the Burning Sun scandal. He and found guilty on all nine counts against him.
He was on trial at the military court for his numerous charges while serving his mandatory service. Due to the Burning Sun, he has become a center of the probe in a far-reaching sex and drug scandal. He used to arrange sexual favors for foreign investors on different occasions with the help of his business partners. The military court state,
"The defendant (Seungri) arranged sexual favors for foreign investors on many occasions in collusion with his business partner Yoo In-suk and gained benefits as a result. His crime of commercializing sex and violating our traditional custom has caused no small harm to our society.”
He has resigned from his band ‘Big Bang’ on 11 March 2019, saying that he has damaged the band's reputation, which cannot be ignored. He said,
“I thank my fans at home and abroad for the love over the last some ten years from the bottom of my heart, but for the sake of YG and Big Bang’s reputation, I think this where I think this is where I’ll have to draw the line.”
Due to the Burning Sun scandal, the career of the former member of the popular band “BIG BAND” has been ended.
Scandal And Controversies Details
Seungri was not only a singer, dancer, and songwriter, and he was also a businessman. As a businessman, he has held leadership positions in several companies, from the YGX sub-brand to ramen shop and a club called Burning Sun. The Burning sun has used Seungri’s celebrity status to attract more attention and investment.
The club, Burning Sun, has one of the most complex scandals regarding span sexual assault, prostitution, drug distribution, hidden camera footage, tax evasion, and police corruption. The pieces of evidence were leaked from chatrooms from KakaoTalk, a Korean app while repairing Jung Joon-young’s phone. In the chat, there were eight members, including Seungri.
These became national news on a large scale that even South Korean President Moon Jae-in has commented saying, “If the truth is not revealed, we cannot say it’s a just society.”
The major development related to Burning Sun has been teared up by Billboard. Seungri even officially apologized through Instagram for the Burning Sun controversies. On 27 Feb 2019, Seungri was asked questions at the police station regarding controversies for about eight hours and thirty minutes. On another day, he canceled all of his concerts and upcoming gigs. He even went to the police station many times for questions.
On 30 January 2020, Seungri was accused of charges like habitual gambling, organized prostitution, and illegal foreign currency trade, which Soul Central Prosecutors officially confirmed as per CNN. He was even charged for distributing illicit footage, tax evasion, and embezzlement.
However, he denied the charges brought against him as there was an additional charge of special violence instigation by South Korean military prosecution. He said he was completely unaware of the events that have been accused claiming,
“I didn’t know anything and I found out during the investigation. I don’t remember [the fact of prostitution] at all, but I had to admit it was true because the woman’s statement said it was. But when I read the statement after I was indicted, it was too unreliable. I was young and popular at the time, so I wasn’t in a position to pay money to maintain relationships with people.”
Seungri got the notification regarding his mandatory service on 4 February while he was on trial regarding his charges which were handed over to the military court system. He has joined the military service and will be discharged on 16 September 2021 after serving for 18 months and seven days.
Seungri’s Net Worth And Career Details
The star of Korea, a singer-songwriter and actor Seungri, has a net worth of $25 million. The real name of Seungri is Lee Seung-Hyun. He was born on 12 December 1990 in Gwangju, South Korea.
When he was young, he played a role in the TV reality show Let’s Coke Play! Battle Shinhwa helped him to have a way to the entertainment industry. Later, he did audition for the boy band ‘Big Bang.’ He debuted the band with his other members of band G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, and Daesung.
After a short period of time, they released their first studio album, ‘Big Bang Vol.1 -Since 2007’ in 2006. After that, they released many songs like Lies, Always, etc., and albums like Hot Issue, Day by Day, Remember, etc., which made them a huge success and won the ‘Song of the Year’ award and ‘Seoul Music Award.’
Through the band, Seungri gained his popularity due to which he even became an actor and appeared in films like Nineteen (2009), Why Did You Come to My House (2009), High 4Low: The Movie (2016), Bonjour L’amour (2018), etc., TV shows like Popular women 100 (2013), Girls Fighting (2016), We will Channel You (2018), etc. and TV series like Angel Eyes (2013).
As a solo artist, he has released his solo songs and EP like VVIP (2011), Let’s Talk About Love (2013), Made (2016), etc. He has also released his first Korean studio album, The Great Seungri (2018), and also helped to establish two branches of a mPlugind dance academy, ‘Plug in Music Academy,’ known as ‘Seungri Academy.’