A South Korean court handed down a four-year jail term to a woman who was found guilty of blackmailing football star Son Heung-min.
The former Tottenham captain was found guilty of being blackmailed by a woman in her twenties and a guy in his forties who claimed to be pregnant with his kid.
Local media said that a district court in Seoul heard that the woman had contacted Son sometime last year, stating that she was carrying his kid, although she had no idea whether that was true.
In order to get 300 million won ($200,000; £153,00) out of him, she threatened to make the accusation public unless he paid her.
The lady reportedly bought high-end, designer items with the money, according to the AFP news agency.
To the court, prosecutors said, “[The woman] insists she received the money as compensation and portrays herself as a victim.” This was stated on Monday. Their accusation was that she had planned the crime “thoroughly”, but that her statements did not fit the facts.
A two-year prison sentence for attempted blackmail was handed down to the woman’s accomplice, who had threatened Son fifteen times in order to get the funds.
Son went to the cops when they wanted more money this year.
According to the court, the lady and her accomplice took advantage of Son’s fame to commit the crime, and Son seemed to suffer from “intense mental anguish” as a result of the media coverage of the case.
In October, Son was ranked as the second-highest-paid player in the top-tier American soccer league known as Major League Soccer (MLS), which is similar to the Premier League in England.
The 33-year-old became the most expensive player in Major League Soccer history in August when he left Tottenham after 10 years with the club to sign with the Los Angeles Football Club.
In his own nation and around the region, Son is very famous since he is generally considered one of the top football talents in Asia.
He became the first Asian to win the Premier League’s Golden Boot trophy, given annually to the league’s top scorer, in 2022 while still playing with Spurs.
