K-Pop Stars Face Jail Time Over Gambling In Las Vegas

Starting back in the late nineties the music industry saw the rise of the boy band, this phenomenon was not limited to the USA and Europe but was the genesis of K-Pop in South Korea. Today K-Pop is a massive South Korean industry worth in excess of $5 Billion globally and spawning star training camps where potential entertainers can be groomed for up to 10 years before making their debut.

✓Tarnished K-Pop Stars

In a recent turn of events two famous names in the K-Pop arena, Yang and Seungri, were hit with immediate travel bans and summoned to appear on charges of violating South Korea's stringent Foreign Exchange Transaction Act.

Yang Hyun-suk was a band member of Seo Taiji and Boys, one of the first K-Pop boy bands to rise to fame in the early nineties. He subsequently used his fame and wealth to form YG Entertainment the South Korean K-pop powerhouse behind such hits like Psy’s Gangnam Style.

Seungri, whose real name is Lee Seung-Hyun, was one of the three frontmen for the popular K-Pop boy band Big Bang which was managed by YG Entertainment.

2019 has not been a good year for both Yang and Seungri. June saw Yang resign from YG Entertainment amidst drug-related charges, while Seungri was let go from Big Bang in March due to a prostitution scandal involving police corruption.

✓Million Dollar Frauds

South Korea offers legal sports betting and lotteries however residents are only allowed to legally play casino games in one location, the Kangwon Land Casino & Hotel. This exclusive casino gambling requirement is still in force even when the person is travelling outside of South Korea.

In this instance, Korean authorities received a tip advising them that both Yang and Seungri had spent millions of dollars gambling in various casinos around Las Vegas.

The US Treasury Department alerted the Financial Intelligence Unit of Korea (FIU) to the fact that the men had made large cash purchases at locales such as the MGM Hotel & Casino which is an immediate fraud red flag. The subsequent investigation by the FIU showed the men to have spent at least a million dollars over several visits.

The Nevada Casino Association is cooperating fully with the Korean authorities providing them with all the relevant data surrounding visits, spend at the casinos and winnings.

In addition to contravening South Korea’s Foreign Exchange Transaction Act Yang could also be facing embezzlement charges as it appears the funds used were YG Entertainment assets which were never declared.