Woman who blackmailed Tottenham Hotspur star jailed for four years

A South Korean court has sentenced a woman who blackmailed soccer star Son Heung-min to four years in prison.

The woman, aged in her 20s, and her accomplice, a man in his 40s, were found guilty of blackmailing the former Tottenham Hotspur captain, claiming she was pregnant with his child.

The Seoul District Court heard that the woman approached Son sometime last year and claimed she was pregnant with his child, but in fact she did not know that was the case, local media reported.

She extorted 300 million won ($200,000; £153,000) from him and threatened to make the allegation public if he did not comply.

According to AFP, the woman spent the money on luxury goods and designer goods.

“(The woman) maintained that she received the money as compensation and portrayed herself as the victim,” prosecutors told the court on Monday. “But her account is not entirely consistent with the facts,” they said, accusing her of “thoroughly” planning the crime.

The woman’s associate, who threatened Son 15 times to get the money, was sentenced to two years in prison for attempted extortion.

This year, when they asked for more money, Son called the police.

The judge said the woman and her accomplices took advantage of Son’s fame to commit crimes, and that Son appeared to have experienced “intense mental anguish” after media coverage of the case.

In October, Son was named the second-highest-paid soccer player in Major League Soccer (MLS), the top soccer league in North America similar to the English Premier League.

In August, the 33-year-old left Tottenham Hotspur after 10 years to join Los Angeles Football Club in the most expensive transfer in MLS history.

Son Heung-min is widely regarded as one of the best football stars in Asia and enjoys high popularity in his homeland and region.

In 2022, while still at Tottenham, he became the first Asian to win the Premier League Golden Boot Award, which is awarded annually to the top scorer in the league.

Additional reporting by Kelly Wu