Seungri: The scandals and alleged crimes that led to his shameful downfall

Seungri of BIGBANG is one of the hottest topics in South Korea today. However, it is for the wrong reasons as the reports are about his brush with the law.

It is really unfortunate for the idol singer that he was forced to retire early this year after getting embroiled in many controversial cases. He is being investigated since March for an array of alleged offenses and rather than being resolved, it seems that his list of cases is getting longer as the investigation gets deeper.

Seungri’s scandal that pushed him to leave showbiz

In late February, Jung Joon Young who is a close friend of Seungri was arrested for suspicions of illegally filming and sharing sex videos on chatrooms in KakaoTalk, a Korean messenger app. As the police look into the case, several names of celebrities were uncovered in the chatrooms and it included the BIGBANG member and FT Island’s Choi Jong Hoon. Seungri and Jung were named as the main suspects in the case, as per E! News.

More charges for Seungri were laid out by the authorities after they also found out that he could have colluded with the police to cover up or be off the hook for some offenses involving his businesses. For instance, his restaurant violated an ordinance and his police friends will fix the matter so he can’t be charged. Of course, this is a form of corruption too as it was reported that in exchange, he gives them money or even tickets to BIGBANG concerts.

More grave accusations surfaced for Seungri

The 28-year-old was plunged deeper in the mud when his company was also investigated and suspicions of embezzlement were raised. Prostitution was also brought up after the police stated that Seungri could have used sex and women to entice investors to put more money into his businesses.

In particular, they were looking into Seungri’s birthday party that was held in Palawan, Philippines in 2017. They said that the ex-BIGBANG member hired prostitutes to entertain his VIP guests who are also investors.

The Straits Times reported that the Seoul Metropolitan Police revealed that Seungri is facing embezzlement, destruction of evidence, violation of laws on sex trade, sexual crimes and food hygiene. As for embezzlement, they said that the singer took out funds from his company, Yuri Holdings, for personal use and the total money is said to be around KRW1.1 billion.

Gambling - the singer’s latest case

The most recent case hurled against Seungri is gambling. He allegedly squandered money to in casinos at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He allegedly spent more than $1 million during his visits to the City of Lights. He is also accused of violating foreign exchange rules which he denied, Soompi reported.