K-pop star Seungri sentenced to 3 years in prison in prostitution case

Seungri, member of a popular K-pop boy band Big Bang, arrives at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 14, 2019. After their stunning retirement announcements, two K-pop stars including a member of the superstars Big Bang are facing police questioning over a series of interlocking scandals that have roiled South Korea for weeks. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean military court has sentenced disgraced K-pop star Seungri to three years in prison for crimes including providing prostitutes to foreign businessmen.

The Defense Ministry says the former member of the boy band Big Bang was taken into custody after the ruling by an army court in Yongin, near Seoul.

Seungri, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, was indicted in January 2020 on multiple charges, including arranging illegal sexual services to business investors from Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong from 2015 to 2016.

He was also convicted of embezzling funds from a Seoul nightclub he ran and violating laws prohibiting overseas gambling.

Seungri left Big Bang in 2019 after the media began reporting on the prostitution allegations against him.

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