KUALA LUMPUR, November 9 — YG Entertainment founder Yang Hyun-suk has been sentenced to six months of imprisonment and one year of probation.
He was convicted by an appeal court over allegations of threatening retaliation to cover up a drug scandal dating back to 2019 according to Allkpop.
The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 6-3 held an appeal hearing yesterday concerning Yang’s charges of threats of retaliation and flipped the previous not-guilty judgment.
The charges began in 2016 when former K-Pop boyband iKON member B.I. was investigated over allegations of drug use.
Former YG trainee Han Seo-hee was arrested for marijuana use on August 22, 2016 and claimed that she had used marijuana with B.I. and gave him LSD after he requested to.
However, after a meeting with YG Entertainment on August 26, 2016, Han changed her testimony to say that B.I. was not involved in her drug use.
South Korean police questioned Yang in November 2019 over an investigation alleging that he intimidated Han not to speak out on B.I.’s drug use.
According to the Seoul High Court, Yang held a ‘forced interview’ with Han that hampered her right to defence making her account of the events change dramatically during the investigation.
The court concluded that despite having insufficient evidence of harm, Yang forcing an interview could have caused psychological distress to Han.
"As the representative of YG, he misused his social standing and exercised dominance over B.I. via reprimanding him, and therefore, he is deemed guilty,” the court stated.
