Mnet’s audition program Produce 101 series has completely fallen.
Producer Ahn Joon Young and Chief Producer Kim Yong Bum of Mnet have been sentenced to prison for charges of manipulating votes through all seasons of Produce 101. On the 11th, the 3rd Supreme Court rejected both the defendant and the prosecution’s appeals to confirm the original sentence of PD Ahn and CP Kim, who were indicted on charges of obstruction of business and fraud.
PD Ahn Joon Young will be sentenced to two years in prison, and CP Kim Yong Bum a year and eight months. The two have been appealing for consideration of the sentence by filing an appeal, saying that they would legally argue over the crime while acknowledging all the charges. However, the court refused to accept this. The justice department pointed out that the defendants have ruined the authenticity of the audition program which selects teams to debut. “Trainees who were unfairly eliminated due to the fabricated results have been left with trauma for the rest of their lives,” they added.
“According to the evidence, the original sentence is not legally problematic at all as defendants deceived the viewers through text voting and intended to attribute the proceeds to CJ ENM, even when they have already set final members two days before the incident.”
While the two were indicted, producer Ahn is also accused of receiving fraudulent requests from five entertainment agencies for a year since 2018, receiving 36 million won worth of rewards in return. He also received the highest level of disciplinary action under the Broadcasting Act.
With the imprisonment of PD Ahn and CP Kim confirmed, Mnet will also hold a personnel committee to discuss their HR measures. Mnet said on the 11th, “After confirming the results of the final trial, we decided to hold a personnel committee to take action. We will soon proceed with the committee in accordance to the sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court.”
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