Former Baseball Player Im Chang-yong Faces Prison Sentence for Fraud

On January 21, 2025, the Gwangju District Court held a sentencing hearing for former professional baseball player Im Chang-yong (임창용), who is accused of fraud related to gambling funds. The prosecution has requested a prison sentence of 18 months for Im, who is 49 years old. During the hearing, the prosecutor stated, "The defendant has not shown remorse and has even changed his statements during the investigation and trial process, despite having legal representation. We ask that you consider the victim's plea for severe punishment."

Im is charged with borrowing 150 million KRW from an individual identified as A in December 2019 while in Manila, Philippines, and only repaying 70 million KRW. In his initial court appearance, Im claimed that he met A for the first time in the Philippines and described A as someone connected to a gambling establishment. He asserted that the transactions were made using gambling chips rather than cash and insisted that he had repaid the borrowed amount in full.

Im's defense attorney argued during the trial that the 70 million KRW, which is believed to correspond to the gambling chips borrowed, had been fully repaid, thus negating the fraud charge. A verdict for Im is expected on March 27, 2025.