Court hands 42-month prison term to comedian Park Soo-hong's brother

The Seoul High Court on Friday sentenced Park Soo-hong's older brother and former manager to three years and six months in prison for embezzling funds from the two agencies he ran to manage the victim's activities.

The defendant had been found guilty of embezzling 2.1 billion won ($1.4 million) from Rael Entertainment and Media Boom, agencies run by him and to manage the popular comedian and TV personality. He was also accused of pocketing billions of won from his younger brother's personal assets, but this charge was dropped in the earlier ruling.

The appellate court also overturned the lower court ruling on the defendant's wife surnamed Lee, sentencing her to one year in prison, suspended for two years, with 120 hours of community service. The lower court ruling had cleared her of conspiring embezzlement, citing lack of evidence that she was actively involved in the crime.

The prosecution had sought seven years in prison for Park and three years in prison for Lee in the appellate trial.

"A significant amount of funds appears to have been leaked from the victim by the defendants, and used to acquire personal assets such as real estate," the court said, noting that the defendants made no effort to compensate for the damages.

Lee has also been handed a 12 million won fine for spreading false rumors about her brother-in-law in a separate trial.

The prosecution had requested seven years in prison for Park and three years for Lee for the embezzlement case.

It was found in 2021 that Park Soo-hong's older brother had stolen a large portion of his money while managing his activities and assets for three decades. The defendant was indicted on criminal charges of embezzling 6.2 billion won.

In a separate civil lawsuit filed by Park, he claimed that his brother had stolen 11.6 billion won. This estimate from just 10 years of embezzlement fell within the statute of limitations for compensation lawsuits on such cases. In 2024, Park changed the amount to 19.8 billion won to account for the entire period.

It was also found that the defendant and his wife owned all the shares of the agency Media Boom, which is run entirely by money earned by Park.