Entertainment
Hallyuwood
Korean actress Hwang Jung-eum admits embezzling $3 million from own company
Korean actress Hwang Jung-eum admits embezzling $3 million from own company
Korean actress Hwang Jung-eum, who starred in the series “High Kick Through the Roof,” “Kill Me, Heal Me,” “She Was Pretty,” and “Endless Love,” admitted embezzling 4.34 billion won (about $3 million) from her own company and used it to invest in cryptocurrency.
Hwang Jung-eum, 40, is on trial for embezzlement in violation of the law Act on the Aggravated Punishment, Etc. of Specific Economic Crimes, Korean media reported.
On May 15, the Jeju District Court held the first trial for Hwang Jung-eum.
According to the indictment, she was indicted without detention for embezzling 4.34 billion won of company money by December 2022, including investing 700 million won (about $500,000) of the funds borrowed by his agency in the name of advance payment in cryptocurrency.
The company was a family corporation in which Hwang Jung-eum owned 100 percent of the shares. She invested 4.2 billion of the embezzled money in cryptocurrency.
She admitted the facts of the indictment that day.
"There is no dispute about the facts of the indictment. The defendant invested in coins with the intention of growing the company, and since the corporation could not hold the coins, she temporarily invested in his own name, which led to the commission of this crime,” her lawyer said.
He added, "Since the profits of the agency are generated from the defendant's activities, they ultimately belong to the defendant. Please take into account the fact that some of the damages were paid by selling coins and that the remainder is being paid by selling real estate.”
Through her agency, Hwang Jung-eum admitted embezzling the money.
“I apologize for causing concern to many people with this embarrassing incident. I established and operated an entertainment agency for my entertainment activities. This entertainment agency is a company that I own 100 percent of, and no other celebrities have ever been affiliated with it besides me, and all of the profits come from my activities,” she said.
She added, “While I was thinking about growing the company, I was advised by people around me to invest in coins around 2021 to increase the company’s funds, so I jumped into investing in coins that I didn’t know much about. Although the funds were in the company’s name, I think I made an immature decision because they were profits earned through my own activities.”
“Although I did suffer a loss due to investing in coins, I own 100 percent of the company’s shares, there are no other celebrities under my agency, and there are no other creditors other than the bank holding collateral, so I did not cause any damage to any third parties, which is fortunate,” she said.
The actress explained, “In order to correct my wrongful transaction relationship with the company, I am currently working with a different agency and am in the process of completely ending my transaction relationship with the company. I have disposed of my personal assets and repaid a significant portion of the funds that I had withdrawn from the company in the form of a down payment, and I am in the process of clearing up some of the outstanding balance.”
Her second trial will be held on Aug. 21.
As a result of the case, she was edited out of the TV program “Solo” where she is an emcee.
A company also deleted advertisements featuring Hwang Jung-eum and the other cast members of “High Kick Through the Roof.”