Yuri Holdings, the company involved in recent claims surrounding BIGBANG’s Seungri, has released an official statement denying claims that they pursued prostitution services for business investors.

On February 26, SBS funE released text messages from December 2015 that are said to be between Seungri, CEO Yoo of Yuri Holdings (an investment company Seungri was preparing to establish), and an employee. According to the report, the content of the conversation shared in the group chat implies that the participants were discussing hiring prostitutes for foreign business investors.

In response, YG Entertainment has released an official statement denying all allegations and claiming that the text messages were fabricated, along with an announcement that they will take legal action regarding this issue. The Seoul Police Department has launched an investigation into the claims.

Yuri Holdings, the company named in the claims, has now stepped forward to deny the allegations that have been made. Their official statement reads as follows:

Recently, Yuri Holdings has been in the news, since the Burning Sun incident.

Firstly, we take responsibility for the issue as one of the companies holding stocks in Burning Sun.

However, we feel the need to release our official statement regarding the facts surrounding Yuri Holdings as we can no longer sit back and watch articles written on claims and suspicions.

The text messages that have become an issue are all completely false, and we believe someone with malicious intent towards Seungri and our company has fabricated these text messages as a grudge and sent them to reporters. This is fake news that has been published without being confirmed.

Not only do we not have any foreign shareholders in our company, but the text messages were released on a newly-created image based on content submitted by a tip rather than actual screenshots of the conversations themselves. We cannot stay silent on the matter anymore and have decided to give our statement.

We plan to request an investigation into the individual who fabricated the text messages and submitted them to reporters, and we will take legal action to reveal the truth.

Executive Director Lee Hong Gyu

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The Seoul Police Department has launched an investigation into BIGBANG’s Seungri regarding claims that he offered escort services of a sexual nature to business investors.

On February 26, a source from the Seoul Police Department stated, “We have launched an investigation into the escort service claims that have been reported on by the media.” The police will look into the matter closely, and will be drafting a list of individuals named in the related text messages. Seungri is now a person of interest in the investigation.

Earlier in the day, SBS funE released text messages from December 2015 exchanged between Seungri, CEO Yoo of Yuri Holdings (an investment company Seungri was preparing to establish), and an employee. Seungri is seen to be giving orders to plan a meeting at a club in Gangnam to meet with foreign investors. The content of the text messages seem to suggest that the people involved in the group chat were discussing offering escort services to the investors.

YG Entertainment has released a statement denying all allegations, stating, “We have spoken with Seungri, and he has stated that the released text messages were fabricated and are not true.” They stated that they plan to take legal action on the issue.

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YG Entertainment has responded to reports of BIGBANG’s Seungri lobbying to investors and offering sexual favors as bribes.

On February 26, news outlet SBS funE reported that they found evidence of Seungri utilizing clubs in Gangnam district as a place to lobby to investors.

SBS funE reported, “We have obtained a KakaoTalk (mobile instant messenger) conversation between Seungri, singer C, Representative Yoo of Yuri Holdings (an investment company Seungri was preparing to establish), and an Employee Kim.”

According to the text messages revealed by SBS funE, on December 6, 2015, at 11:38 p.m. KST, Seungri told Employee Kim to “prepare a spot in the main area of Club Arena and call the girls” for foreign investor B and the people with her. Club Arena is a club located in Gangnam district.

Seungri established Yuri Holdings in March 2016 to operate several businesses in the food and entertainment sectors. Late-2015, Seungri had been contacting wealthy investors to get them to invest in his businesses. Seungri’s group chat with Employee Kim and others had already been active before he took office as co-representative of Yuri Holdings.

In response to Seungri’s alleged text, Employee Kim responded, “Two spots in the main area with guards…we’ll take good care of them.” Seungri wrote, “And the girls? Ones that give it well,” and Employee Kim replied, “I’m calling them but I don’t know if they’ll give it. I’m calling cheap ones first.” Seungri said, “Anyway, do a good job.”

Forty minutes later, Representative Yoo texted, “I’m getting the prostitutes ready right now, so when two prostitutes come, you (Employee Kim) guide them and make sure they get to the hotel room safely.” Employee Kim responded, “Yes. I sent the two men [to the room].” SBS funE reported that they had not been able to confirm whether actual sexual favors had been made. Foreign investor B, who is female, returned to Korea in April 2016 to attend the first shareholders’ meeting of Yuri Holdings.

A few hours later, YG Entertainment released an official statement regarding the news. YG wrote, “Hello, this is YG Entertainment. Here is our statement regarding today’s article about Seungri. Upon checking with the artist himself, the text messages in the article are fabricated and not true. In addition, just as we have always done, we inform you that we will take strong legal action against the proliferation and reproduction of rumors and fake news.”

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Top Photo Credit: Xportsnews

On February 26, Dispatch released a report questioning G-Dragon’s current military rank as well as the amount of time he has taken off from his service.

According to Korean army regulations, a soldier is a private for the first three months, a private first class for the next seven months, and then a corporal for the following seven months.

As G-Dragon began with his official assignment on April 5, 2018 after completing training, his colleagues have been promoted to be corporals. However, G-Dragon was reported to still be of private first class rank. A source of the army commented that it is likely due to him not receiving a passing grade in the promotion evaluation.

Dispatch reported that as of February 26, he has been in service for 364 days since his enlistment on February 27, 2018, and 100 of those days were spent outside of the unit, which Dispatch speculates as a reason for him not being promoted.

He took at least 50 of those days off with vacation days and sick leaves. 28 vacation days are allowed during the entire service period, and according to the report, he used most of them in less than a year as well as all of the sick leaves allowed for the year. In addition, he reportedly spent 40 additional days in the military hospital, which count as days that he spent in the unit.

G-Dragon took a vacation of 11 days from February 1 through 11. When asked how he took so many days off when he has used up nearly all of his vacation days, a source from the White Skull Division responded, “The commander granted special leaves to all soldiers who were transferred in around the same time.” In response to the question of the special leave’s purpose, the source commented, “It was given according to regulations.”

The source did not comment on whether G-Dragon used sick days to extend his special leave and instead remarked, “When a new year starts, 30 days of sick leave are additionally granted.”

Regarding a rumor that he has been discharged from the military due to illness, the division responded they cannot confirm the validity of this information.

A source of G-Dragon’s division commented, “It is true that he is currently a private first class. However, it is difficult to comment regarding his personal matters.” About his vacation days, this source responded, “Kwon Ji Yong’s vacations were taken in accordance with his personal situations and within military regulations. There are no problems.” Another source commented, “G-Dragon used a total of 76 vacation days, and 47 were sick days. Aside from his sick leaves, the other vacation days are not much different from what typical soldiers use. There are no problems.”

One source of the military, however, commented, “It is special treatment that occurred under the label of ‘the commander’s discretion,'” and added, “Last year, the incident of him using the 1-person hospital room was also resolved as just being the commander’s discretion.”

YG Entertainment has yet to respond to the reports.

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Yang Hyun Suk recently shared a sweet moment between his son and BIGBANG’s G-Dragon!

On February 25, Yang Hyun Suk posted several photos of his son and G-Dragon with the caption, “My friend. My son with his one and only favorite singer GD.”

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MY FRIEND ..MY SON WITH HIS ONE & ONLY FAVORITE SINGER GD #YG

A post shared by YANG HYUN SUK (@fromyg) on Feb 24, 2019 at 4:27pm PST

In one photo, G-Dragon is shown holding hands with Yang Hyun Suk’s son as they walk into a building together. In another photo, the two snap a selfie together, showing off their family-like relationship.

G-Dragon recently updated fans on Instagram with his first post in almost a year. He is currently carrying out his military duties and is set to be discharged this October.