Former football star Lee Chun-soo accused of fraud

Former football star Lee Chun-soo / Courtesy of DH Entertainment

Former football player Lee Chun-soo, who gained fame as a member of Korea’s 2002 World Cup squad and now runs a YouTube channel with 780,000 subscribers, has been accused of fraud involving hundreds of millions of won.

According to CBS No Cut News on Tuesday, the Jeju Provincial Police Agency booked Lee on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. The case was transferred from the Seogwipo Police Station, where a longtime acquaintance filed a complaint against Lee last month.

The acquaintance, who described his relationship with Lee as close enough to “call each other brothers,” claimed that the two fell out over money. In the complaint, he said that Lee had borrowed living expenses in November 2018, saying, “I don’t have any steady income right now, but I’ll repay you by the end of 2023 once I start running a YouTube channel and a football academy.”

Trusting his friend, he transferred money to Lee several times — a total of about 132 million won ($96,000) over nine transactions, including an initial 3 million won payment sent to Lee’s wife’s account. However, he claims that Lee cut off contact around late 2021 and failed to repay any of the funds by the promised deadline.

He also alleged that Lee persuaded him to invest 500 million won in a foreign exchange futures trading website run by another acquaintance, promising monthly dividends and the return of principal upon request.

While he initially received small profit payments, he said the second acquaintance stopped sending money after two months and only refunded 160 million won. He submitted a written admission from the second person acknowledging the debt, along with bank transfer records, as part of the complaint.

In response, Lee’s representative admitted that he had received money but denied any fraudulent intent. “It’s true that money was given, but (the acquaintance) was doing well financially at the time and offered it voluntarily,” the representative told CBS No Cut News.

“Fraud requires intent to deceive, and there was none. The claim of fraud is not true.” The representative added that Lee “is willing to repay the money” but firmly denied the separate allegation related to investment solicitation. “He never introduced or encouraged anyone to invest in that site.”

Lee rose to national stardom as part of the Korean team that reached the semifinals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. After retiring in 2015, he transitioned to football administration and later became a television personality.

This article is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.