Police to summon K-pop star Seungri over gambling charges

Seungri. FILE PHOTO

SEOUL — Police plan to summon this week Seungri, a former member of popular K-pop boy band BIGBANG, and the former chief of the band’s music label on charges of overseas gambling, according to officials Sunday. 

Seungri and Yang Hyun-suk, the former CEO of YG Entertainment, were booked by the police earlier this month on charges of gambling in a foreign country and securing gambling money in violation of the country’s Foreign Exchange Transaction Act. 

Cable network JTBC earlier reported that Yang and Seungri regularly gambled at hotel casinos in Las Vegas, betting millions of dollars. 

Police officials said the two will be called in for a separate interrogation over the charges sometime during the week. The exact dates and time of their summons have, however, not been disclosed. 

Having searched the headquarters of YG Entertainment in western Seoul on Aug. 17, the police are also looking into whether Yang misappropriated corporate funds to finance his overseas gambling.

Yang, a former member of the sensational popular boy band Seo Taiji and Boys, resigned as the CEO of YG in June as YG artists were involved in drug charges.

Yang was later booked for a separate criminal charge of providing sex services for foreign investors at a high-end restaurant in Seoul in 2014. (Yonhap)