On March 25, Seungri completed his 13th hearing, and the trial so far has revealed the chilling fact that the Prosecution’s witnesses claimed investigator pressure in giving false testimonies. Worse, during this hearing, one witness claimed she never made a statement against Seungri and that the police wrote up the statement implicating the defendant.
Seungri non-involvement according to witnesses
Regarding Prostitution Mediation at the 2015 Christmas Party, Witness C testified that she had no knowledge of Seungri’s involvement. She stated, “I got an offer for part-time work (prostitution) from an older sister (madam or senior) that morning and went to the hotel.” She added, “I had no idea the ‘other man’ was related to Seungri.” She told the court that she didn’t know the customer was Japanese. Witness C disclosed, “there was no sex. No one even mentioned Seungri’s name at the time”.
Later, Witness C countered her own investigation statement committed to paper during police questioning about prostitution offer the next day at a restaurant. She revised the statement, correcting that she never said, “After leaving the restaurant, I was in Seungri’s car for a while.” The witness asserted, “I never said I was in Seungri’s car. The police appeared to have said it was Seungri’s car, and it seems to have been written (by them) in that manner.”
Further, Witness C explained, “I said there was one person among many people and he was a guy who appeared at the restaurant, but Seungri was also there, so it seems like the police wrote (him) to be a part of the ‘defendants group.’”
The Defense lawyer asked for clarification, “did Seungri say anything (to you) in person at the scene?” Witness C answered, “Seungri didn’t provide any instructions, and I never even had any conversation (with Seungri).
Similarly, Witness A, Monkey Museum CEO, testified regarding the embezzlement charge in detail and cleared Seungri of any involvement. He alone took responsibility for decisions and actions taken. He stated, “After the two representatives/CEOs left in February 2018, I was in charge of overall operation”. Witness A requested (permission) of Seungri to revive operations despite the deficit stating, “with the intention of reviving it, so I served as CEO of Monkey Entertainment since June that year.”
On cross-examination, the Defense asked, “How much was Seungri involved in running Monkey Museum?” Witness A certified, “He didn’t come often. He didn’t even come once a month.” He continued, “Monkey Entertainment’s stake was 100 percent on me, and neither Seungri nor Yuri Holdings had any shares in Monkey Entertainment. Seungri didn’t manage it (Monkey Museum).”
Witness B, Yuri holding employee, also testified about the Monkey Museum embezzlement charge. The police theorized that 50 Million Won was misappropriated from Yuri Holdings to establish the Monkey Museum. Witness B previously gave witness statements to the police saying “it was company money”; however, he amended his false statement during the trial. He proclaimed, “it was personal money” when under direct questioning by the Prosecutor.
Witnesses recant testimonies on the stand
The substantial inconsistency with the Prosecution’s witness testimonies raises severe concerns about the nature of the investigation and the process that led to the indictment of retired K-pop star Seungri of BigBang. The trial has made it apparent that the Prosecution indicted Seungri solely based on false witness statements and no material evidence.
In analysis, like that of the United States, South Korean laws do not prevent investigators from using deceit and other psychological tactics when interrogating suspects or witnesses. South Korean police are trained to use the Reid method (developed in the USA) for conducting investigations. However, scholars, researchers, lawyers, and criminal justice reform activists have criticized the Reid method to be fundamentally flawed, leading to false confessions, false witness testimony, and wrongful convictions.
In this particular case, witnesses countered their signed statements and corrected themselves during the hearing. One possible explanation is that the Reid method and other methods slowly break down a person’s emotional stability that leads witnesses to be concerned over their own criminal charges. The investigators let them know that all they need to do is sign on the dotted line and thumbprint. At this point, hours, if not days of questioning, have passed. Under these circumstances, they cannot waste their time reading what is in the statement or if they accurately recalled an event.
When one witness after another changes testimony in court, correcting their previous false statements (and stating police pressure as a cause in earlier hearings), it is most likely because the witnesses are under oath in the courtroom. They are not in a small room isolated and under psychological adversity. They can think clearly when answering the Prosecution questions. Moreover, the Defense on cross-examination can further dig into their inconsistencies.
In fact, Seungri’s Defense Lawyer has made it clear that the Defense wants an answer about why these inconsistencies exist. The Judge agrees to explore the matter in upcoming hearings stating, “there could have been coercion or pressure (during police interrogation), but it’s necessary for the court (the Judge, i.e., the fact-finder of the court) to confirm the reversal of statements made according to conscience.”
Blatant confirmation bias by authorities
Confirmation bias in police investigation explains the fumbled investigation. According to research conducted by Ask and Granhag, police officers often rate disconfirming or exonerating evidence as less reliable or credible and prefer guilt confirming evidence that supports their initial hypotheses. (Karl Ask & Par Anders Granhag, Motivational Bias in Criminal Investigators’ Judgments of Witness Reliability, 37 J. APPLIED SOC. PSYCHOL. 561, 579–80 (2007).
Indeed, Seungri’s case may demonstrate confirmation bias in action. Investigators under enormous pressure due to the media coverage, public outrage, and celebrity of Seungri must have been highly motivated to close the case quickly and do their jobs by catching the bad guy. When investigators form a hypothesis of guilt early in evaluating evidence, they are likely to fall under confirmation bias.
Once the investigators decided Seungri was a criminal, they investigated everything concerning him, seeking confirmation of their belief. They focused on him as a suspect, selected and filtered evidence, including witness statements that would build a case for a conviction, while ignoring or suppressing evidence, including witness testimonies that pointed away from guilt.
Seungri is facing nine indictments such as: Prostitution (for self); Prostitution Mediation (for others between Dec 2015-Jan 2016); Embezzlement (hiring legal representative fee); Embezzlement (528 million won involving Burning Sun revenues); Violation of Food Sanitation Act (involving Monkey Museum wrongfully registering business); Habitual Gambling (Las Vegas gambling); Distributing Obscene Material/Shooting using camera (single photo of pornographic nature); Violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act (illegal monetary exchange), and Instigating Violence (eliciting assumed gang violence). The ongoing trials are held at the Ground Operations Command’s General Military Court in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do.
30 comments
The most detailed legal analysis I’ve read to date about the case and the significance of the discrepancy of testimony and previous statements.
Great Article!
Excellent article! Great insight on police techniques used during interrogations and interviews.
Hope the judge will investigate thoroughly as to the reason of the differences between police and court testimonies witnesses are giving.
Excellent article. Great insight on what methods police use during interrogations and witness interviews.
Hopefully the judge will investigate thoroughly the reasons for the differences between the written testimonies and the ones they presented in court. The inconsistencies are indeed concerning and raise a red flag on the whole investigation and indictment of Seungri.
Very detailed article! 👍And at the same time very easy for understanding. I wish as many ppl as possible could read the article and learn about Seungri’s case and this particular hearing. Thank you!
Thank you for the factual information about the case.
Thank you for the facual information about the case.
Thank you for this article!!
Great article, very interesting to know how law enforcement do their jobs. The case has reveal a lot of this and it’s good to have sources like this to know more. Thanks
Thank you for sharing the detailed article. Netizens need to read this. Seungri has gone through so much. His reputation is pretty much ruined by all the false statements that those evil people made up.
It’s very informative. I’m shocked at the learning that the police can act this way and let their biased opinions influence their way of interrogation witnesses.
Thank you for writing this article so well with the factual information about this case,very easy to understand so I hope with this other people will easily understand about this case so well
Thank you for the update on Seungri’s trial Look forward to more articles
Thank you for this article. I hope many people can enlighten what is really happening now to his case. This article is detailed and easy to comprehend. Thank you again.
Finally a well-written, objective article on the case. The fact that things have gone on this long with no one actually blaming Seungri says a lot. The only thing they have caught him on was gambling in Las Vegas. The rest was invented by internet hoaxes and corrupt tabloid press. This site is one of the few with the guts to report the case properly.
I hope this kind of article that are based on facts gets to be viral especially in Korea where netizens believe everything fed to them by the biased media. #JusticeForSeungri
Thank you. thank you for covering the case and sharing the truth. this text clarifies many things.
I hope so much the truth comes to light in the courtroom . This is why we dont hang people from trees and there is also defense at the trial. People should not be convicted of what they did not do so Police saves face in front of the public
A really great and unbiased article. I hope that they can close the investigations soon. They shouldn’t drag the case if they can’t find anything against him.
Thank you. Excellent article. I hope a lot of people, a lot of Korean people, will read it. The world is carefully watching. We’re waiting to see if Korea will see what the rest of the world saw since day one.
This is what we call an unbiased article. No clickbait just facts
This is an excellent article. Unbiased. I wish this witch hunt will end soon. The media and police has failed him. They destroyed his career. I hope that people will finally open their eyes and realise that all of these are bullshits created by irresponsible people. Stop hating on the wrong person.
Thank you for a fair approach to the matter and a good article.
Finally a fair articles !
Sabah S Themis, Esq . your break down of the law and how investigations takes place was very clear. You did not misdirect or try to frame the facts in a sensational way. The analysis was informative and unbiased. My law class will be using this as a reference. Thanks.
Business Mirror, is there a way to link More from this Author so we can see her other journal articles. It would be beneficial for the public and your older articles can continue getting exposure. Thanks for consideration.
Finally, the truth is slowly coming out. Certainly,these false accusations against Seungri will surely be proven soon. Hope the police and investigators who did were fabricating these false statements will be investigated. Someone surely did pay them to indict Seungri.
Thank you for sharing your legal insight with us. This has been a long & painful process, & it angers me to see people believing in the false accusations created by the media against Seungri so easily. Whatever the yellow media writes, the people believe, even when evidence is showing to the contrary. And, as you described, even the police is influenced by public opinion & confirmation bias! But thankfully the truth is coming to light & hopefully people will begin to see the truth.
Excellent article. This gives a detailed information on the current status of the case. Very well written 🙏👍
Agradezco demasiado que realicen este tipo de artículos. Su análisis, en mi perspectiva, es correcto. Los medios y la policía necesitaban un culpable, es por eso que decidieron señalar a Seungri sin indagar más. Me da mucha pena por Seungri, tenía una brillante carrera por delante, y gracias a la ineptitud de la policía, y el amarillismo de los medios; sus sueños y proyectos a futuro se destrozaron.
Wow. Kudos to the writer of this article. So far, this is the most detailed article i’ve read so far regarding Seungri’s case. Thank you.