Lee Jin-ho Waives Appeal; Suspended Prison Sentence Finalized for ‘Habitual Gambling and Drunk Driving’

[Financial News] The suspended prison sentence handed down to comedian Lee Jin-ho, 39, who was tried on charges of habitual gambling and drunk driving, became final on September 9.
According to legal sources on September 9, Lee Jin-ho was sentenced on September 1 by the Criminal Division 1 of the Yeoju Branch of the Suwon District Court, presided over by Judge Tae-yoon Ahn, to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, along with 120 hours of community service.
Neither Lee Jin-ho nor the prosecution filed an appeal with the competent court by the deadline on September 8. Under criminal procedure rules, a first-instance judgment becomes automatically final if no appeal is filed within seven days of sentencing.
With the judgment now final, Lee Jin-ho will serve the first-instance sentence without further proceedings before a higher court. If he commits another offense during the three-year probation period, the suspended sentence may be enforced.
Lee Jin-ho was previously indicted on charges of habitually gambling after transferring approximately 800 million won to illegal gambling websites more than 600 times between May 2023 and October last year, then converting the funds into cybermoney to gamble.
He was also charged with driving a long distance while intoxicated from Incheon to his home in Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, in the early hours of September 24 last year, while the gambling investigation was underway.
[email protected] Seong Min-seo Reporter