South Korean Actor Hwang Jung-eum Faces Backlash for Embezzling $3 Million to Buy Crypto

South Korean actor Hwang Jung-eum has been edited out of the ultimate episode of SBS Plus’s actuality present ‘As a result of I’m Single,’ following her courtroom admission that she embezzled $3.1 million (₩4.34 billion) from her personal firm to spend money on crypto.

“Hwang Jung-eum’s VCR segments won’t seem in right now’s last episode, which airs at 8:30 p.m.,” the manufacturing group mentioned Tuesday as per native media reports. “Her feedback as an MC may even be minimized.” 

The choice comes after Hwang testified final Thursday on the Jeju District Court docket, admitting to misappropriating roughly $3 million (₩4.2 billion) from a family-run company she absolutely owns and utilizing the funds to purchase crypto.

Prosecutors indicted her below Korea’s Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Particular Financial Crimes.

“I sincerely apologize for inflicting concern over this shameful matter,” Hwang mentioned in an announcement released by her new company, Y.One Leisure. “I made the funding in hopes of rising the corporate, however it was a hasty and immature choice.”

The scandal has rapidly derailed her public picture. Daesang Wellife Nucare, a well being drink model, pulled down newly launched promotional content material that includes the actor simply days after its launch. 

Advert posters and movies have been scrubbed from the model’s official social media, and a associated on-line occasion was abruptly canceled. The corporate cited “adjustments in inside schedules” as the explanation.

Hwang’s former company, the place the embezzlement passed off, was a one-person operation that managed solely her. 

Her authorized group argued that the misused funds originated from her private leisure earnings and have been briefly held in her identify as a result of firms are restricted from holding crypto instantly.

“For the reason that company’s income finally stem from the defendant’s personal work, they are often seen as rightfully belonging to her,” her lawyer mentioned in courtroom.

Hwang has since offered crypto belongings to repay a part of the quantity and plans to liquidate actual property holdings to cowl the remainder. A second listening to is scheduled for August.

The scandal coincides with a turbulent interval in Hwang’s private life, together with an ongoing divorce. Her position on As a result of I’m Single marked her return to tv final October.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair