<p>Disgraced former K-pop star Seungri was convicted of arranging prostitution and other charges stemming from a sex and drugs scandal and jailed for three years Thursday by a military court, officials said.</p>.<p>The 30-year-old singer from popular boyband BIGBANG, who retired from showbusiness as the scandal mounted and later enlisted in the military, was found guilty on all nine counts against him, a defence ministry official told AFP.</p>.<p>BIGBANG enjoyed widespread fame following their 2006 debut and Seungri -- real name Lee Seung-hyun -- went on to become a successful businessman.</p>.<p>He was convicted of arranging sex services for potential investors in his business, as well as overseas gambling at luxurious casinos in Las Vegas involving illicit foreign exchange transactions.</p>.<p>"It is hard to see the defendant was not aware of financial payments paid to the women for sex," media reports quoted judge Hwang Min-je as saying.</p>.<p>"It appears that he carried out systematic sexual prostitution."</p>.<p>Seungri had changed his testimony under police questioning and in court, he added, and "lacked credibility".</p>.<p>His illegal gambling was "serious" given his status as a celebrity and it went on over a long period.</p>.<p>The singer was also ordered to forfeit 1.15 billion won (around $1 million).</p>.<p>According to the charges he arranged prostitutes for foreign investors on 24 occasions over five months from September 2015.</p>.<p>The investigation into the scandal surrounding him uncovered a spate of allegations against other musicians and personnel at YG Entertainment -- Seungri's former agency and one of the biggest K-pop management firms.</p>.<p>It prompted the agency's CEO Yang Hyun-suk to step down, facing probes of his own into illicit gambling.</p>.<p>Seungri was a member of a mobile chat room where K-pop singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young -- now serving a five-year sentence for gang rape and other offences -- distributed videos of sexual assaults and other encounters.</p>.<p>The revelations rocked the K-pop industry and became the highest-profile crime involving hidden cameras secretly filming women, known as "molka" in South Korea.</p>.<p>Jung appeared as a witness in Seungri's trial and testified he was aware that an adult entertainment manager who Seungri knew had provided the women.</p>.<p>Reaction to the verdict was swift on Thursday, with many users online saying Seungri's punishment was too light for the offences.</p>.<p>"While it is fortunate he is finally being jailed, the term is too short," a user on Naver, the country's largest portal, posted.</p>.<p>Another added: "It should've been 30 years, not three."</p>.<p>The verdict came a month before he was due to be discharged from his mandatory military service.</p>.<p>All able-bodied South Korean men are obliged to fulfil around two years of military service to defend the country from nuclear-armed North Korea, with which it remains technically at war.</p>
<p>Disgraced former K-pop star Seungri was convicted of arranging prostitution and other charges stemming from a sex and drugs scandal and jailed for three years Thursday by a military court, officials said.</p>.<p>The 30-year-old singer from popular boyband BIGBANG, who retired from showbusiness as the scandal mounted and later enlisted in the military, was found guilty on all nine counts against him, a defence ministry official told AFP.</p>.<p>BIGBANG enjoyed widespread fame following their 2006 debut and Seungri -- real name Lee Seung-hyun -- went on to become a successful businessman.</p>.<p>He was convicted of arranging sex services for potential investors in his business, as well as overseas gambling at luxurious casinos in Las Vegas involving illicit foreign exchange transactions.</p>.<p>"It is hard to see the defendant was not aware of financial payments paid to the women for sex," media reports quoted judge Hwang Min-je as saying.</p>.<p>"It appears that he carried out systematic sexual prostitution."</p>.<p>Seungri had changed his testimony under police questioning and in court, he added, and "lacked credibility".</p>.<p>His illegal gambling was "serious" given his status as a celebrity and it went on over a long period.</p>.<p>The singer was also ordered to forfeit 1.15 billion won (around $1 million).</p>.<p>According to the charges he arranged prostitutes for foreign investors on 24 occasions over five months from September 2015.</p>.<p>The investigation into the scandal surrounding him uncovered a spate of allegations against other musicians and personnel at YG Entertainment -- Seungri's former agency and one of the biggest K-pop management firms.</p>.<p>It prompted the agency's CEO Yang Hyun-suk to step down, facing probes of his own into illicit gambling.</p>.<p>Seungri was a member of a mobile chat room where K-pop singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young -- now serving a five-year sentence for gang rape and other offences -- distributed videos of sexual assaults and other encounters.</p>.<p>The revelations rocked the K-pop industry and became the highest-profile crime involving hidden cameras secretly filming women, known as "molka" in South Korea.</p>.<p>Jung appeared as a witness in Seungri's trial and testified he was aware that an adult entertainment manager who Seungri knew had provided the women.</p>.<p>Reaction to the verdict was swift on Thursday, with many users online saying Seungri's punishment was too light for the offences.</p>.<p>"While it is fortunate he is finally being jailed, the term is too short," a user on Naver, the country's largest portal, posted.</p>.<p>Another added: "It should've been 30 years, not three."</p>.<p>The verdict came a month before he was due to be discharged from his mandatory military service.</p>.<p>All able-bodied South Korean men are obliged to fulfil around two years of military service to defend the country from nuclear-armed North Korea, with which it remains technically at war.</p>