Pretending to be BTS member, 28-year-old male sentenced to prison for leaking undisclosed music files 

A 28-year-old man was sentenced to prison after posing as a BTS member to acquire their unreleased music files. 

The Daegu District Court’s Western District Criminal Division 9 announced on July 17 that a 28-year-old man called A was sentenced to one year and two months in prison. He also received a three-year probation and 240 hours of community service along with 40 hours of mental and psychotherapy classes.

Around February 22, 2022, from his home in Daegu, A contacted Big Hit Music Producer B, pretending to be a BTS member. Unaware he was being deceived, B gave A the group’s activity information and files of new undisclosed songs. 

Since then, A has been accused of obstructing Big Hit Music and B’s music production, release, and sales by posting undisclosed music files on Instagram 47 times or sending Kakao messages to others. The activities lasted until May 20 last year. 

According to the prosecution’s investigation, A acquired B’s personal information through an Internet search. He committed the crime hoping to fake himself as a successful composer.

Mr. A’s lawyer appealed for leniency, saying that A buried himself in SNS due to difficult relationships with those around him resulting from his past criminal records. The lawyer added that A studied popular music and grew jealous of his peers who became more famous and successful than him, which developed A’s curiosity and yearning that fueled his crimes.  

The court explained the reason for the sentence, saying, “We took into account the fact that the victims are likely to have suffered considerable property and social damage, most of the released music files were edited and posted in a short length of about 10 to 20 seconds, the music was released as an official album after the crime, and Big Hit Music withdrew the lawsuit.”

Source: naver