March 11, 2019, 07:21 PM 
Seungri is, or more accurately at the time of writing, was, a member of Big Bang, one of the more influential Korean boybands.
Here they are.
Seungri is the guy on the left.
Here he is.
The entire fiasco revolves around a nightclub associated with Seungri, Burning Sun.
Image from Club in Korea
The trigger point appears to be a video of a girl allegedly being assaulted in the club in January, 2019.
This served as a type of watershed moment where further instances of these types of assaults came to the public's attention.
20,000 people signed a petition calling for Burning Sun to be punished.
Here is what they are accused of, according to a report on Korea Times.
- Suspicions of repeated use of date rape drugs
- Offered these victims of date rape drugs to VIP customers to have sex with.
- Sending messages informing these VIP customers that these girls were "ready" for them.
They were said to have talked about the women like they were talking about food.
How does Seungri fit in to all this
Seungri is heavily linked to Burning Sun.
According to the same Korea Times article, the club was known as "Seungri's Club" because the Big Bang member was allegedly the big boss of the club.
He apologised for all the unhappiness surrounding the club recently.
He also asserted that he wasn't at the club that night.
Other publications however questioned that claims.
Regardless, the club was reportedly shut down on February 22, 2019.
End of story, yes?
No, it's just the beginning
Seeing how he was allegedly a large part of the club's operations, some questioned how Seungri could not have known about the transgressions.
In fact, even in the aforementioned Instagram post, he denied knowing anything about the alleged practice of drugging girls for sex.
This was apparently contradicted by a report by Korean journalist Kang Kyeong Yoon, who published alleged text conversations between Seungri and other figures associated with Burning Sun.
The text messages show a conversation between Seungri and a few individuals supposedly arranging prostitutes for a client at Arena Club.
YG Entertainment, who represents Seungri, called into claims the veracity of the text messages.
Here is the official statement according to Soompi.
βHello, this is YG Entertainment. Here is our statement regarding todayβs article about Seungri. Upon checking with the artist himself, the text messages in the article are fabricated and not true. In addition, just as we have always done, we inform you that we will take strong legal action against the proliferation and reproduction of rumors and fake news.β
Legal ramifications
Here is where things take a turn for the serious, and keep in mind, all these happened within a two week time span.
The text evidence was apparently handed over to the relevant authorities at The Korean Anti Corruption and Civil-Rights Commission.
Seungri who had earlier expressed his willingness to help with the case had his offer taken up as well, being officially listed as a suspect.
A police representative explained the move in a press conference.
"We booked Seungri and changed his status to that of a suspect in order to issue a search and seizure warrant and clear him of the suspicions around him."
Also, remember the Arena Club mentioned in the leaked texts? Well, the police have raided the club for evidence in relation to the case.
Seungri has had some real-life impact in relation to the case.
His National Service will still proceed on March 25, but investigations will continue even after he has enlisted.
Furthermore, Seungri has decided to part ways with Big Bang.
He explained that he didn't want to mar the band with his own ongoing issues.
His stepping down comes amidst a fan petition imploring him to be kicked out of the band.
The Korean police have revealed more celebrities are involved in the group chat.
Image collated from Seungri's Instagram
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