YG Entertainment founder faces six months imprisonment and one year probation
YG Entertainment founder and former CEO Yang Hyun-suk was sentenced to six months imprisonment and one-year probation under charges of attempting to coerce a former trainee to cover up a drug scandal, Korean media outlets reported.
On Nov. 8, the Seoul High Court conducted an appeal hearing that overturned a lower court’s decision to acquit him of charges against attempting to threaten former trainee Han Seo Hee about her police testimony on the drug abuse scandal surrounding former IKON member B.I. in 2016.
A former managing associate at YG also received a sentence of four months imprisonment with a one-year probation term.
As translated by Korean outlet allkpop.com, the court ruling read: “The prosecution lodged an appeal, purporting the victim’s statement was credible. Nonetheless, the amendments to the indictment involved a forced interview with Yang Hyun Suk, hampering the defendant’s right to defense.”
The court ruling said that although the former trainee’s statement was believable, there were parts that changed from time to time, which affected the credibility of the claim of a forced interview conducted by Hyun-suk. Therefore, the higher court upheld the lower court's decision acquitting him of charges related to revenge blackmailing the trainee, due to fluctuating accounts testified by the trainee.
However, the court acknowledged that using his status as a de facto CEO to host a meeting with the former trainee to reverse her police statements may pose psychological distress and undue pressure on anyone which led to the final verdict of his imprisonment and probation.
In August 2016, Seo Hee was arrested on suspicions of smoking weed with Bigbang’s T.O.P. where during the investigation, she submitted evidence of drug use by former IKON’s member B.I.
However, later, she changed her statement to the police stating that B.I. did not use drugs.
She revealed later on that then-CEO Hyun-suk allegedly called her to the office and asked her to reverse her testimony by threatening her, “It wouldn’t be difficult for me to put you at a disadvantage.”
Still, the former IKON member was sentenced to three years in prison with a four-year probation period, 80 hours of community service, 40 hours of a drug treatment course, and an additional fine of 1.5 million won in his first trial in September 2021.
As translated by the Korean media outlet Soompi, B.I.'s court ruling read, “[What he did] cannot be regarded as a crime that occurred due to simple curiosity, and celebrity drug usage has a great impact on society by weakening adolescents’ awareness of drugs.”