Seungri admitted that he was only guilty of one charge during his second hearing at the general military court.
During the proceedings, Seungri maintained that he was not responsible in seven of the eight cases he was indicted for. He only pleaded guilty to the violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and denied the other charges.
According to a report by Soompi, Seungri's cases included prostitution mediation, purchase of prostitution services, violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, habitual gambling, violation of the Food Sanitation Act, violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
Twenty-two witnesses are expected to testify against Seungri, including his former business partner Yoo In Suk and convicted celebrity Jung Joon Young.
Yoo In Suk previously pleaded guilty to charges lodged against him, including prostitution mediation and embezzlement. He vowed to cooperate with the court by providing details about his involvement. The charges were part of the highly controversial Burning Sun scandal last year that forced Seungri and other celebrities to retire from the entertainment industry, Soompi reported.
During the hearing, Seungri maintained that he took no part in purchasing prostitution for business investors.
On the charges of distribution of photos that were taken illegally, Seungri said through his legal representatives that he only received the images from an employee of a Singaporean adult entertainment business. He claimed that he only shared the photos to promote the establishment through a group chat. He said he was unaware that they were taken illegally.
It can be recalled that Jung Joon Young, along with five others, were sentenced to jail terms for rape and distribution of illegally filmed footage of women through a group chat, Korea Joong reported.
One of the group chats included the former BIGBANG member. Leaked records from the chat that became part of Jung Joon Young's court case mentioned Seungri once.
Based on the transcript of the conversations, Seungri reportedly got angry that a sexcam video was uploaded on the business chat, Koreaboo reported.
Seungri denied charges of habitual gambling but admitted to violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. Seungri also denied embezzlement charges connected to Yuri Holdings and said that his expenses were legitimate.
On the violation of the Food Sanitation Act charge, Seungri maintained that he received a report from a manager that the violations have already been corrected.
After hearing Seungri's position, the court ruled that the witnesses will be questioned in three separate schedules. The hearings are expected to run until December 17.
