Choi Jong Hoon is a South Korean guitarist, musician, and actor. He is the former leader of the South Korean rock band "FT Island", where he served as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, occasional lyricist, and composer. During his high school years, he was accepted into the FNC Music talent agency, which later formed the band F.T. Island with Jong Hoon as its leader and guitarist. In January 2009, members Choi Jong Hoon, Choi Minhwan, and Lee Jaejin were put into the sub-group "A3". In late 2009, the triple-member group was renamed "F.T. Triple" and began working with Jong Hoon on the keyboard instead of the guitar.
In April 2019, police booked Choi for illegally filming women without their consent, distributing a total of six videos, and bribery to cover up his drunk-driving incident. On April 11, 2019, Choi admitted to spreading hidden camera photos taken without consent and also filming illegal hidden camera footage. He was charged with one count of sharing personally taken illegal footage and five counts of sharing footage from other sources.
In the same month, a woman came forward to SBS funE, claiming that five men including Choi, had raped her after she was intoxicated in March 2016, and then shared the footage in a group chat. Choi denied the allegation but admitted that he and the woman were together on that day. On May 10, 2019, Choi was arrested on the gang-rape allegations and was indicted on the charge of taking part in a gang rape in 2016. On November 29, 2019, Choi was sentenced to five years in prison. On May 12, 2020, Seoul High Court reduced his sentence from five years to two and half years after reaching an agreement with one of the victims. On November 8, 2021, it was reported that Choi was released from prison.
(Source: Wikipedia)
