Supreme Court Confirms 2-Year Prison Sentence for PD Ahn Jun-young of 'Produce' for Deceiving Viewers
[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Anjunyoung PD, who was prosecuted for manipulating the ranking votes of the idol training program 'Produce' series, has been sentenced to 2 years in prison.
On the 11th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) upheld the original sentence of 2 years imprisonment and a fine of about 37 million won in the appeal trial of An, who was charged with fraud and other offenses.
An and other Produce production staff were prosecuted for manipulating the number of votes so that trainees from a specific agency could be selected for the final debut group. In particular, An is accused of manipulating the paid text vote results of viewers to favor certain candidates during the live competitions of seasons 1 to 4, which started in 2016. He is also accused of receiving entertainment expenses worth millions of won from entertainment agency officials at nightclubs.
Previously, the first trial sentenced An to 2 years in prison and ordered a fine of about 36.99 million won. CP Kim was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison. The second trial maintained the first trial's judgment, stating, "The trainees who were eliminated due to ranking manipulation had to live with lifelong trauma, and viewers who took pride as national producers felt extreme betrayal."
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In response, An's side admitted to the ranking manipulation charges for all seasons but appealed, claiming it was not for personal gain and that no illicit requests were received from agencies. However, the Supreme Court dismissed this. The court stated, "While arbitrarily manipulating the voting results and rankings of trainees participating in the program, they induced paid text votes as if the rankings were determined by the viewers' votes, thereby deceiving an unspecified large number of viewers, the victims, and obtaining financial benefits. The fraud charges are recognized as guilty."
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