Former K-pop (Korean pop) star Seungri has been sentenced to three years in jail by a military court on Thursday after he was convicted for arranging prostitution and sex services. The 30-year-old singer, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, was also levied with other charges included a sex and drug scandal being called as the Burning Sun Scandal, which came to light in 2019. Seungri, who was a part of the popular boyband Big Bang, retired from performing after the scandal began gaining momentum and then enlisted himself in the military where he was found guilty on all nine counts, a defense ministry official said to news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

Seungri tasted major success with Big Bang after the band's debut in 2006 and he established himself as a businessman, while also making appearances in the South Korean film, Nineteen and High & Low: The Movie in Japanese. He began arranging sex services for potential business clients and investors, including illegal gambling at Las Vegas. According to media reports, judge Hwang Min-je was quoted as saying, "It is hard to see the defendant was not aware of financial payments paid to the women for sex. It appears that he carried out systematic sexual prostitution."

Initially, Seungri had denied the charges against him with the exception for the violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and the court finding him guilty on all nine counts. Arrest orders were issued against the former K-pop star after it was stated that he would try to evade being apprehended since he was scheduled to complete his military service in mid-September, with reports now stating that he will be discharged due to the latest sentencing. 

Fans were shocked when Seungri's name had popped up in the Burning Sun Scandal in 2019 and had been investigated for the procurement and mediation of prostitution, including money embezzlement, illegal gambling, food sanitation laws violation, attempted destruction of evidence, distribution of footage filmed illegally and filming women illegally.