It was recently revealed that the Seoul Southern District Court decided to accept Song Ja-ho’s bail application on February 5th. It has been seven months since his arrest.
Song Ja-ho ran a sharing economy art company and was arrested and indicted in July last year on charges of fraud, breach of trust, obstruction of business, and violation of the Capital Markets Act. Song was tried on charges of manipulating the market price of virtual assets after recruiting investors to invest in artworks that he did not secure. He is suspected of stealing 33.9 billion won (35.6 million U.S. dollars) along with Lee Hee-jin and Lee Hee-moon. According to the arrest warrant at the time, there were 14,000 victims.
Song Ja-ho applied for bail, saying he wanted to exercise his right to defend without detention. The prosecution opposed bail because the matter was serious and Song Ja-ho and others could flee, but the court’s judgment was different. The court granted bail to Song Ja-ho with conditions such as 200 million won deposit, prohibition of departure, attachment of electronic devices for real-time location tracking, restrictions on residence, and prohibition of departure.
Last year, Song announced his candidacy for a by-election in Seocho-gap, Seoul. His name and face became more famous when he announced his romantic relationship with Park Gyu-ri, a member of the group KARA. The two dated from 2019 to 2021.
There was a rumor that Park was involved in Song Ja-ho’s alleged crimes. However, it seems that this is not true. “If I did something wrong, the biggest mistake was not to clean it up early,” Park said on social media in February last year. “As I said in my official statement, I am not involved in anything, so I hope that you write based on all the facts that have been revealed.”
Source: Wikitree
