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

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 put money into 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 crew mentioned Tuesday as per native media reviews. “Her feedback as an MC may also be minimized.” 

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

Prosecutors indicted her beneath 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 launched via her new company, Y.One Leisure. “I made the funding in hopes of rising the corporate, nevertheless it was a hasty and immature choice.”

The scandal has shortly 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 had been scrubbed from the model’s official social media, and a associated on-line occasion was abruptly canceled. The corporate cited “modifications in inner 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 crew argued that the misused funds originated from her private leisure revenue and had been briefly held in her identify as a result of firms are restricted from holding crypto instantly.

“Because the company’s earnings finally stem from the defendant’s personal work, they are often seen as rightfully belonging to her,” her legal professional mentioned in court docket.

Hwang has since bought 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 function on As a result of I’m Single marked her return to tv final October.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair