Big Bang's Seungri released from prison after completing sentence

Lee Seung-hyun, the former member of boy band Big Bang also known as Seungri, on Sept. 24, 2019 [YONHAP]

Lee Seung-hyun, a former member of boy band Big Bang also known as Seungri, was released from prison Thursday morning after completing his year-and-a-half prison sentence.

"Former Big Bang member Seungri was released from the Yeoju Correctional Institution this morning," an official from the Ministry of Justice told local news channel JTBC.

Lee was sentenced to a year and a half of jail time for offering women for sex to potential investors, gambling overseas and embezzling money from his nightclub, the Burning Sun.

Lee was at the center of the sex, drugs and police protection scandal surrounding the Burning Sun and involving other celebrities in 2019. He debuted as a member of Big Bang in 2006 but left the band in September 2019.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]