A man was sentenced to six years in prison, as in the first trial on charges of fraud involving BTS’s fan meeting.
A man in his 30s, who was put on trial for allegedly scamming hundreds of million Won after promising event organizers that he will hold a fan meeting performance by popular idol group BTS, was sentenced to prison in an appeals court.
On April 11, the Seoul High Court (Chief Judge Cha Moon Ho) sentenced the 38-year-old man, identified by his last name Choi, to six years in prison as in the first trial on charges of violating the law on aggravated punishment of certain economic crimes.
“Given the circumstances and the testimony of the victim, we have no choice but to conclude that Choi has deceived the victims at the time,” the court said. “The damage Choi has done to the victims is significant.“
“Choi has caused damage to foreigners and lowered the national prestige,” the court also said. “Not only has Choi demeaned BTS, but many people want to punish him severely because he has yet to recover from the damage, so how can the sentence be reduced?”
Earlier, the first trial also decided that “Choi deceived the Japanese into giving them exclusive authority to produce and sell products in Japan using the images of BTS” and sentenced him to six years in prison.
Choi, the head of a company specializing for celebrity collaboration product, was brought to trial in January 2017 on charges of receiving a total of 624 million won in bribes from the event organizers to allow them to hold fan meetings and events.
In addition, Choi allegedly scammed 1.1 billion won by deceiving that person that he would allow the exclusive rights of using BTS’s image in Japan and stole about 1.3 billion won in similar deals.
Sources: Nate
