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Seungri, as soon as one of many best-known Ok-pop stars and a former member of the idol group BigBang, was compelled to retire after a large scandal erupted in 2019.
The incident got here to be often called the “Burning Solar” scandal and concerned a number of celebrities and cops. Seungri was amongst these implicated, accused of being one of many ring leaders.
Now allegations have emerged that he’s pursuing one other leisure enterprise in Cambodia.
Journalist Oh Hyuk-jin made the claims on Tuesday on his YouTube channel. Citing a number of ideas, he mentioned Seungri was trying to hitch the nightlife business and could also be holding business-related discussions in Cambodia.
“He’s making contacts with people linked to cash laundering, voice phishing rings and on line casino operations,” Oh mentioned, including that there have been experiences of Seungri socializing with senior figures at so-called “crime compounds” in Cambodia.
These compounds are areas the place organized legal teams are believed to run voice phishing operations, luring job seekers from South Korea, Japan and China and subjecting them to coercion and abuse to drive them to hold out scams once they arrive. When the existence of the compounds got here to gentle, public outrage triggered internationally coordinated police operations that led to the arrest of key figures behind the networks.
“The current crackdowns led to the arrest of many concerned, leaving the venture’s prospects unclear,” Oh mentioned. “However Seungri, for whom it has develop into almost not possible to stay in Korea because of hostile public sentiment, nonetheless retains a following in Japan and is attempting to leverage his picture as a former BigBang member in Southeast Asia.”
He added that Seungri has not too long ago been touring regularly to Thailand.
The controversy intensified after a video circulated on-line exhibiting Seungri attending a membership occasion in Cambodia, the place he took the microphone to handle the gang.
“Individuals tried to warn me once I mentioned I used to be going to Cambodia,” Seungri is heard saying within the footage. “However I believe Cambodia is the best nation in Asia.”
Within the movies, logos for Prince Brewing and Prince Holdings are seen behind him. Prince Holdings was later revealed to have managed a infamous website the place kidnapped victims had been compelled to take part in phishing and different scams, and subjected to torture.
Prince Brewing, in the meantime, is known to be one of many group’s affiliated manufacturers. Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a direct enterprise relationship confirmed between Seungri and the businesses as of but.
Chen Zhi, chairman of Prince Group, has been arrested and extradited to China. In accordance with the United Nations Workplace on Medicine and Crime, scam-related crimes in Southeast Asia alone brought about estimated losses of between $18 billion and $37 billion in 2023, highlighting the size of the illicit economic system.
After the “Burning Solar” scandal got here to gentle, Seungri left BigBang and terminated his contract with YG Leisure. He was ultimately convicted on 9 costs, together with arranging prostitution, embezzlement, ordinary playing and violations of international change legal guidelines, and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. He was launched in 2023.
This text from Xportsnews is customized by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Occasions.
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