Supreme Court Confirms 10-Month Prison Sentence for Former Samsung Star Pitcher Yoon Sung-hwan with 135 Wins

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The guilt of former professional baseball pitcher Yoon Seong-hwan, who was indicted for attempting to manipulate the outcome of a professional baseball game after receiving 500 million won from an acquaintance, has been confirmed.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) on the 31st upheld the original sentence of 10 months imprisonment handed down to Yoon, who was indicted for violating the National Sports Promotion Act.

Yoon was prosecuted on charges of receiving a total of 500 million won in September 2020 from an acquaintance who requested him to manipulate the game by allowing a walk to the opposing team in the first inning and conceding a certain number of runs before the fourth inning in a weekend baseball game.

The first trial recognized Yoon's guilt and sentenced him to one year in prison along with a fine of 203.5 million won. The court stated, "The defendant, who was a player for the Samsung Lions and achieved 135 wins over 15 seasons, holding the record for the most wins by a Samsung pitcher, could have become the first Samsung pitcher to have his number permanently retired. The fact that the defendant received a large sum of money related to match-fixing will cause a greater shock to the public than other players' match-fixing cases."

The second trial also recognized Yoon's guilt. However, considering that he was unable to participate in the scheduled game and the actual match-fixing did not occur, the sentence was reduced to 10 months imprisonment and a fine of approximately 190 million won.

The Supreme Court found no legal errors in the second trial's judgment and confirmed the punishment.

Yoon was drafted by the Samsung Lions in the first round of the second phase of the 2004 rookie draft and became a franchise star for the team. Since his professional debut in 2004, he recorded a total of 135 wins, ranking first in total wins among Samsung pitchers and eighth in KBO history. However, he was released by the team in November 2020 after being involved in match-fixing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.