Pilates instructor and influencer Yang Jeong-won. Reporter Lee Seon-myeong 57km@kyunghyang.com

An indictment by prosecutors revealed specific signs of collusion involving a former investigation team leader at the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul, who is accused of repeatedly receiving entertainment and money from the husband of Yang in return for quashing the fraud investigation into the well-known influencer and TV personality Yang Jeong-won (37).

According to the Dong-A Ilbo on the 5th, the indictment on charges including bribery against Mr. Lee (45), the husband of Ms. Yang, sets out in detail the improper meetings between Inspector Song, who was serving last year as the investigation team leader at the Gangnam Police Station, and Mr. Lee.

On February 20 last year, at a nightlife establishment in the Gangnam District of Seoul, Mr. Lee provided entertainment worth 510,000 won to Inspector Song. At the time, Ms. Yang had been accused by franchisees of a Pilates academy franchise of fraud and other offenses and was under investigation at the Gangnam Police Station. Prosecutors found that two days after the treat, on February 22, Inspector Song contacted Mr. Lee and, in effect, said he would call in the case officer and order that the case be promptly closed with a finding of no charges.

Their improper meetings continued thereafter. On July 2 last year, Mr. Lee provided additional hostess-bar entertainment worth 550,000 won to Inspector Song, and on the 22nd of the same month he gave gifts including a designer scarf worth a total of 1,000,000 won. The indictment also includes indications that the day after receiving the gifts, Inspector Song told Mr. Lee, “I will let the results speak”, and “The case involving your wife will end well”, implying that the investigation would be quashed.

On April 20 this year, prosecutors applied charges including bribery and sought an arrest warrant for Inspector Song, but the court rejected the request, saying there was room for dispute over whether there was quid pro quo and other elements.

Meanwhile, the incident that sparked the alleged police collusion was a series of complaints by franchisees of a Pilates academy franchise for which Yang Jeong-won was known as a promotional model and director. The franchisees claimed that headquarters had induced them to join by saying the business would be run as directly managed branches in which headquarters would dispatch and supervise instructors, but that the promise was not kept in practice, and that they were forced to purchase Pilates equipment through headquarters even though it could be obtained cheaply on the market; on these grounds, they filed fraud complaints against Ms. Yang and headquarters officials.

Yang Jeong-won released a statement asserting that she had only provided her likeness as a simple promotional model for the franchise and had no involvement at all in franchisee contracts or business operations by headquarters, and she flatly denied the fraud allegations.