(LEAD) YG denies sex-for-favor allegation involving BIGBANG's Seungri

(ATTN: ADDS quote from a police investigator)

SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) -- YG Entertainment, the management agency that represents boy band BIGBANG, denied a media report Tuesday that member Seungri attempted to buy sexual services for foreign investors in his new business.

"We asked him about the matter and want to confirm that the article is based on fabricated text messages and is false," the agency said in a press release.

The company vowed to take legal measures against all acts of spreading and reproducing false rumors, including fake news.

Police, however, said they were looking into the case.

"We have begun an internal probe into the sex-for-favor suspicion that emerged through a media report," an official with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said, adding that the agency's regional investigation unit will be in charge of the probe.

Earlier in the day, an Internet newspaper reported that the 29-year-old singer attempted to buy sexual services for foreign investors in an investment company that he was preparing to establish with an acquaintance in December 2015.

The newspaper unveiled conversations he allegedly had with the head of the company and one of its employees at that time. The messages showed Seungri directing the employee to prepare seats and "loose women" for the investors at a nightclub in Seoul's posh Gangnam area.

Seungri cofounded the company, Yuri Holdings, in early 2016 for investment in restaurant and entertainment businesses. Yuri is known to be a shareholder of Burning Sun Entertainment that operates Burning Sun, a Gangnam nightclub under police probe over allegations of narcotics use, sexual assaults, violence and corrupt ties with district police.

The allegations have come under media spotlight since Seungri worked as the club's public relations director. He has apologized over the scandal. The singer currently has no title in Burning Sun and Yuri Holdings.

sshim@yna.co.kr
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