Actor Lee Sun-gyun (48), who is suspected of drug use, was booked as a criminal and his status was changed to a suspect.
The Incheon Police Agency’s drug crime investigation unit announced on the 23rd that it had booked Mr. Lee on charges of marijuana and other charges under the Narcotics Management Act.
The police also arrested A (29, female), the manager of an entertainment establishment온라인카지노 in Gangnam, Seoul, on suspicion of psychotropic drugs under the Narcotic Drugs Control Act, and booked without detention a female employee in her 20s who worked at the same entertainment establishment.
Ms. Lee is accused of administering drugs, including marijuana, on several occasions at Ms. A’s home in Seoul since the beginning of this year.
Ms. Lee’s side claims that Ms. A extorted hundreds of millions of won by threatening Ms. Lee.
Ms. Lee said, “She was threatened in connection with the drug case and was ripped off of hundreds of millions of won,” and recently filed a complaint against Mr. A to the prosecutors’ office on charges of blackmail through her lawyer.
Mr. A is known to have had about 10 phone calls with Mr. Lee this year, and the amount of damage to Mr. Lee is said to be 350 million won.
However, Ms. Lee’s lawyer said, “First of all, we filed a complaint naming two people as defendants, but we do not know whether there are one or two people,” and she said, “The amount of damage is hundreds of millions of won, and she did not spend a specific amount.”
The Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office Drug Crime Special Investigation Team (Chief Prosecutor Lee Young-chang) transferred the blackmail case filed by Mr. Lee against Mr. A to the Incheon Police Agency on this day.
A prosecution official said, “The police who were investigating the related (drug) case decided that it would be better to investigate it together, so we transferred the case.”
The police have confirmed whether Mr. Lee is the target of the investigation through a pre-booking investigation (internal investigation), which is the stage before the formal investigation. Afterwards, it was reported that in addition to the statements of those involved in the case, some other clues were confirmed and the case was booked.
The police are expanding the investigation, believing that Mr. Lee has used various types of drugs, not just marijuana.
A police official said, “We secured specific clues regarding Mr. Lee’s charges and converted him into a suspect.”
As Mr. Lee’s status has been converted to a suspect, the police are expected to issue a notice of attendance soon.
In addition, among the remaining five victims, there were those with a record of drug use, such as Mr. B, a third-generation chaebol family member, and Mr. C, an aspiring singer.
However, only the names of Mr. B and Mr. C were revealed during the investigation of another person involved in this incident, and the charges were not specifically revealed.
In a phone call with Yonhap News on this day, Mr. Lee’s lawyer, who is from a large law firm, said, “I recently met with Mr. Lee (the client in the case) once and had a brief meeting.” He added, “Mr. Lee is not only Mr. B (who is also mentioned as a subject of internal investigation), but also Mr. C. “I don’t even know him at all,” he said.
Next, when asked, “Do you admit or deny the suspicion of drug use?”, he only replied, “It is difficult to say yet,” and “I will faithfully undergo the police investigation.”
Lee, who debuted in 1999, is a top star actor who has appeared in many works, including the drama ‘Pasta’ and the movie ‘Going to the End’.
In 2019, he appeared as the lead in director Bong Joon-ho’s film ‘Parasite’, winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes International Film Festival, and is well known in the world film industry.