Woman Who Blackmailed South Korean Football Star Son Heung-min Gets Four Years In Jail – Arise News
Woman Who Blackmailed South Korean Football Star Son Heung-min Gets Four Years In Jail – Arise News
A South Korean court has sentenced a woman in her 20s to four years in prison for blackmailing football star Son Heung-min.
The woman and her accomplice, a man in his 40s, were found guilty of claiming she was pregnant with Son’s child and extorting $300 million won ($200,000; £153,000) from him. They threatened to go public with the allegation if he did not comply.
The court heard that the woman approached Son last year claiming she was carrying his child, though she did not know whether that was true, according to local media. AFP reported she spent the money on luxury and designer goods.
Prosecutors told the court on Monday: “[The woman] insists she received the money as compensation and portrays herself as a victim. But her claims do not fully match the facts,” accusing her of planning the crime “thoroughly.”
Her accomplice, who threatened Son 15 times to get the money, was sentenced to two years for attempted blackmail. When they demanded more money this year, Son went to the police.
The judge said the woman and her accomplice had abused Son’s celebrity for their crime, and that Son appeared to have gone through “intense mental anguish” after the case was reported in the media.
Son, who joined Los Angeles Football Club in August after 10 years at Tottenham, became the second-highest paid footballer in Major League Soccer. Widely regarded as one of Asia’s best football stars, Son enjoys immense popularity in his home country and across the region.
In 2022, while still at Spurs, he became the first Asian to win the Premier League’s golden boot award presented annually to the leading goal scorer.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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