Also, a well-publicized case involved a senior police official, Yoon Gyu-geun, who was arrested for allegations of bribery and mediating favors for the Burning Sun club and others, which ended with an innocent verdict at his first trial.

Seungri's entertainment agency head, Yang Hyun-suk, admitted to gambling and illegal money transactions in Las Vegas casinos and was sentenced to paying a fine, along with three YG and YGX associates.

Lee pointed out the irony of Seungri's having been found to be thoroughly comparable to The Great Gatsby protagonist, not only for his good looks, business acumen, and lavish parties, but because both had sought "illicit and corrupt activities to gain fame and wealth.

[64] In August 2018, Seungri joined him on the travel show Salty Tour, where Jung was a main cast member, and made comments that generated disciplinary actions by the Korea Communications Standards Commission due to their gender insensitivity or potential "sexual harassment".

During a broadcast episode on a trip to Xiamen, China, Seungri asked a female guest (singer and actress Sejeong) to pick a favorite amongst the five male cast members and pour them a drink; which viewers complained about.

[70] An additional report by MBC, on February 14, included allegations of a purported VIP client of the club, who said staff solicited him in text messages, offering women who were available for sex, after readying them with date rape drugs.

[16][78][79] He said, "The current leadership of the prosecution and police should stake the fate of their organizations with responsibility on uncovering the truth and becoming a law enforcement agency that can reveal its own shameful acts so as to regain trust," and "I am stressing that if we cannot fix it, we cannot call this society a just one.

"[78] Ha Hyun-ock, a deputy financial news editor of the JoongAng Ilbo likened the burgeoning events to the Korean Mafia, with allegations of "drug dealing, prostitution, violence, tax evasion and collusion with police".

He referred to the assessment Bang brought up on the SBS news program, of its being the beginning of a Korean Mafia, with K-pop's popularity creating celebrities of new money and status, who hobnob with business and government connections.

SMPA had paper trails of money transactions, a YG Entertainment credit card payment by Seungri and a wire transfer by Yoo, and chat room conversations the two had with Jung about the arrangements;[92] and had booked 17 prostitutes and pimps related to the incidents.

[98][99][100] SMPA referred Seungri's case to prosecutors on June 25, with charges related to 1.1 billion won (US$951,000) in embezzlement, destruction of evidence, violation of laws on sex trade, sexual crimes and food hygiene.

[125][129][130] A senior SMPA official, Yoon Gyu-geun, age 49, referred to as the "police chief" in the chatrooms, was arrested on October 10, on charges of accepting bribes and misuse of power, among others, following a search at his office in September.

[137][138] A Burning Sun employee, an MD named Cho, age 28, one of the first investigated in the club's scandal, was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment in early December for smuggling and administering drugs.

[142][143][144] Witnesses interviewed on the program alleged "underage sex trafficking and violent sexual abuse of women", claiming VIP rooms at the club and offsite were set up for customers, including those from upperclass Korean families, and a special clean-up crew called the "incinerators" were employed to remove blood and incriminating evidence.

[144] In late June, BBC News reporter Laura Bicker shared similar allegations of Gangnam's nightlife, "in its glitzy nightclubs, women have been drugged to order by powerful men and raped" and "underage girls are being sexually exploited for profit".

A Cheong Wa Dae petition was filed, alleging that a chat group of about 200 reporters, producers and media staffers had shared illicit video clips of incidents that had occurred at the Burning Sun, as well as information about brothels and prostitutes.

[154][155] On September 29, Lee Jae-jung, a member of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee released SMPA data showing that 12 of 40 police officers involved in the initial assault allegations of Kim Sang-kyo and afterwards had been disciplined, with any actions pending for key figures, such as Yoon.

[185] On January 27, 2022, a military appeals court reduced Seungri's three-year prison sentence by half, to one year and six months, and imposed a smaller fine, based on his admission of guilt and "reflection" on all nine charges.

[190] At the end of March 2019, Seungri told the director of SBS's investigative program, Unanswered Questions, in a text message, that the lawyer, whistleblower, and journalist were responsible for all the criminal allegations against him, had not checked facts properly and had "ruined his career for their own personal gain".

[199] Following the release of BBC documentary Yoon Gyu-geun, now 54, was transferred to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency offices from his position as the head of the crime prevention response department in Songpa District, east of Gangnam, where he had been promoted at the beginning of 2024.

[91] A Burning sun employee Ahn, who worked as a female Taiwanese investor's Korean guide, was booked for embezzlement charges, and the possibility of any Triad investments or organized crime connections were investigated with Interpol and other agencies.

[206] Seungri was investigated for allegedly: supplying prostitutes for investors, sharing an illicit photo of a woman in Jung's chatroom, giving concert tickets to a police officer Yoon, and embezzlement of funds from the clubs Monkey Museum and the Burning Sun.

"[229] Months later, on November 6, members of seven civic and women's groups, including the Green Party Korea and the Korean Cyber Sexual Violence Response Center (KCSVRC) held a press conference and protest in front of the SMPA Jongno District building demanding the resignation of KNPA's Commissioner Min Gap-ryong, criticizing the police investigations of the Jang Ja-yeon and Burning sun cases as biased and poorly conducted.

[231] In July 2018, thousands marched in Seoul against spy cameras and the government responded by hiring workers to monitor public bathrooms, but activists criticized a general dismissive attitude towards the crimes, citing a "deeply rooted gender inequality and misogyny in the country".

The gender power dynamics — that often objectify women into sex tools — feel exhaustingly repetitive", and said the scandal was more than "misogyny and spy cameras", but a larger story of the Burning Sun nightclub's "alleged involvement in prostitution, drug trafficking and police corruption".

[240] Actress Park Han-byul, who married Yoo of Yuri Holdings in 2017, first stated that she knew nothing more than his being Seungri's business partner,[241] but made a public apology on March 19, after it was reported that she and her husband had played golf previously with the high-ranking police official under investigation for collusion with the nightclubs in the scandal.

An organizer for the largest, Ultra Korea, said that due to the scandal's allegations of sex crimes involving GHB or "mulpong", and cannabis use at festivals, plans were being made to mobilize detection dogs, bag checks and X-rays for monitoring drug trafficking this year.

[252] A November 2019 retrospective article, written by Matthew Campbell and Sohee Kim for Bloomberg Businessweek, pointed out that the K-pop industry, in general, had ignored the scandal, with "no organized demands for better behavior from male stars or serious discussions about revamping how idols are trained."

"[253] Allegations of police misconduct and corruption in the scandal added public support to a government proposal to create an independent investigative agency, first announced by President Moon in July 2017, and still undergoing political debate.

[258] The public appeared to boycott a noodle chain called Aori Ramen between January and April 2019, according to multiple store owners who filed a compensation lawsuit in July blaming Seungri, who had run and promoted the franchise, for falling sales.