Crypto-Embezzling K-Drama Star Hwang Jung-eum Receives Suspended Jail Sentence

The K-Drama actress and former pop star Hwang Jung-eum has walked free after her conviction for embezzling company funds to pay for personal crypto ￰1￱ South Korean media outlet Financial News reported that the Jeju District Court found her guilty of the charges, and delivered a suspended sentence of two years in ￰2￱ presiding judge also ordered her to serve four years of ￰3￱ embezzled around 4.2 billion won ($3 million) from Hunminjeongeum Entertainment in ￰4￱ South Korean actress and former pop star Hwang Jung-eum addresses reporters outside a branch of the Jeju District Court on September 25, 2025. () K-Drama Star Hwang Jung-eum Apologizes for Wrongdoing Hwang left the courtroom in tears after the ￰5￱ told reporters outside the courtroom: “I am sorry for all the problems that I have caused.

I have never even been near a police station ￰6￱ I cried when I heard the court ruling.” Hunminjeongeum was Hwang’s own one-person entertainment agency, a company she owned in its ￰7￱ court heard that was found that Hwang Jung-eum invested most of the money she embezzled in ￰8￱ also explained that she also used money from her agency’s accounts to pay her credit card bills, and settle her property tax and local tax ￰9￱ prosecution had asked the court to jail Hwang for three years during an August ￰10￱ did not say whether they would seek to appeal the district court’s verdict. Hwang’s legal team noted that she had admitted to all the charges and had repaid the funds in two installments, on May 30 and June 5 this ￰11￱ Hwang Jung-eum was handed a suspended prison sentence Thursday for embezzling over 4.2 billion won ($3 million) from her agency to invest in cryptocurrency. ￰0￱ — The Korea JoongAng Daily (@JoongAngDaily) September 25, 2025 Judge Explains Reason for Suspending Sentence The presiding judge said, in sentencing: “The defendant’s guilt is not light because of the amount of damage she incurred in making speculative investments.” However, the court explained its decision to suspend the ￰12￱ judge said that it had taken the fact that it was Hwang’s first offense into ￰13￱ presiding judge also concluded that the damages were “only limited to the defendant,” and noted that she had “repaid the entire amount of money she had embezzled.” Hwang, a former member of the South Korean pop group Sugar, made her small-screen breakthrough in the late 2000s when she appeared in the MBC sitcom High Kick Through The ￰14￱ has also appeared in recent K-Dramas, including Kill Me, Heal Me (2015) and The Escape of the Seven (2023–2024).