The former CEO of an entertainment company, which caused controversy over non-payment of appearance fees to celebrities including broadcasters Lee Kyung Kyu and Jang Do Yeon, was sentenced to probation for providing more than 14 billion won in company funds to the parent company.

According to the legal community on January 24 KST, the Seoul Western District Court's Criminal Agreement Division 11 (Chief Judge Bae Seong-jung) sentenced Ahn (57), who was recently sent to trial on charges of violating the Specific Economic Crimes Act (embezzlement), to three years in prison and four years of probation.

Mr. Ahn ran a video production company A and a management company B, and is accused of borrowing and using funds from company B, a complete subsidiary conducting a management business, to solve company A's financial difficulties.

In the process, it was discovered that a total of 14.1495 billion won was transferred from Company B to Company A's account 279 times from March 2016 to November 2020. As a result, Lee Kyung Kyu, Yoo Se Yoon, Jang Dong Min, and Jang Do Yeon, who belonged to Company B, did not receive appearance fees.

During the trial, Mr. Ahn's side claimed that the two companies were operated as one corporation, but the court ruled that the charge of embezzlement was established, saying that they were clearly separate corporations. The court explained the reason for the sentencing by pointing out, “The fact that company B’s funds were accounted for as loans and transferred and used by company A was merely an act for the benefit of company A.”