Influencer and former pilates instructor Yang Jeong-won will be questioned by police over allegations that she suppressed the investigation into a fraud case she is involved in.
Yang Jeong-won is scheduled to appear today (29th) at the Seoul Gangnam Police Station as a suspect on charges including fraud. That day, police plan to summon representatives of the pilates franchise academies for a confrontation investigation.
According to police, the Seoul Gangnam Police Station has received multiple complaints on charges of fraud and violation of the franchise business law and has been investigating Yang Jeong-won and the head office officials who run the pilates academy franchise since the end of July 2024. Franchise owners said the contractual promise that Yang Jeong-won and the head office would dispatch instructors directly trained by them to run the franchises as company-operated locations and share know-how was not kept.
In response, Yang Jeong-won's agency said, "As a promotional model, she only proceeded with a portrait rights contract and does not know the business details." Yang Jeong-won also denied being charged with fraud, saying, "I am not a business participant in the pilates academy franchise business but simply under a portrait rights use contract as an advertising model."
Afterward, police questioned her once as a reference person and in December of the same year decided not to prosecute on the grounds of "no suspicion," but during this process suspicions arose that the investigation had been suppressed.
Prosecutors have detected signs that Yang Jeong-won's husband intervened in the police investigation and are continuing the probe. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office's Joint Investigation Team on Financial and securities Crimes is suspicious that Yang Jeong-won's husband contacted police officials, provided money and entertainment, and received investigation information.
Yang Jeong-won said, "I do not know exactly what specific activities my husband carried out in relation to the investigation. My husband will also sincerely participate in the remaining investigation and trial procedures," and added, "I apologize for causing concern over this regrettable matter. Because the burden from inaccurate speculative reporting is great, I ask for understanding and leniency."
Yang Jeong-won says she was not directly involved and that her husband's contacts with the police were simply to expedite the handling of the case.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]