ILLEGAL GAMBLING ALLEGATIONS OF YG

[Anchor Lead]

Yang Hyun-suk, the head of a famous entertainment management agency, YG, who has been under investigation for arranging prostitution services, is facing a new allegation: illegal gambling abroad. Police have launched a new probe into the allegation that Yang performed illegal foreign exchange transactions to gamble overseas.

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Former YG Entertainment chief producer Yang Hyun-suk has been indicted for arranging prostitution services for a wealthy investor from Southeast Asia. But recently another allegation has been raised against the famous producer: illegal gambling abroad. The Intellectual Crime Investigation Team of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is investigating the accusation that Yang Hyun-suk gambled in Las Vegas, USA. Police are looking at whether Yang indeed performed illegal foreign exchange transactions to obtain money for gambling. The investigators are zeroing in on whether the producer used illegal transactions to smuggle a large sum of foreign currency overseas without reporting it to the authorities, as is required by law. A police official said the investigators have obtained the relevant information only recently and are trying to confirm its authenticity. Yang has not been indicted for the new allegation yet. The official added that the exact amount of the illegal foreign exchange transactions has yet to be confirmed, although some media sources reported that it reaches 1.3 billion won. Earlier, the Special Crime Squad of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency seized Yang's mobile phone and bank accounts as well as the bank accounts of YG Entertainment to analyze how the agency's money was used. The investigators are looking to find out if Yang hired female escorts in October 2014 to provide prostitution services to his Malaysian investor Jho Low in Europe.