Lee Chun-soo, 44, a former South Korean national team standout turned TV personality, has been sued over alleged fraud involving hundreds of millions of won.
According to a Nov. 4 report from local outlet CBS No Cut News, the Jeju Provincial Police have booked Lee on suspicion of fraud and are investigating. A complaint filed last month with the Seogwipo Police Station has since been transferred to the provincial agency.
The complainant, identified only as A and described as a longtime acquaintance of Lee’s, claims they lent him a total of 132 million won for living expenses and were never repaid. A alleges Lee asked for the money in 2018, promising to settle up by the end of 2023, but then cut off contact and failed to return the funds.
A further alleges that around April 2021, Lee encouraged an investment in a foreign-exchange futures trading website. A says they transferred roughly 500 million won but received back little of the principal, claiming Lee pitched the site as “safe” because it was run by an acquaintance and that profits would be shared monthly.
Lee’s side acknowledges receiving money from A but disputes any wrongdoing, saying A was financially comfortable at the time and told him to “just use it,” characterizing it as money given without strings attached. They added that fraud requires an intent to deceive, which they deny, and said Lee is willing to return funds to A. His camp also rejected as untrue the claim that he pushed any forex investment.
Since retiring in 2015, Lee has worked in soccer administration and as a TV personality. He also runs a YouTube channel, which currently counts about 780,000 subscribers.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)