Korean couple’s extortion convictions rejected

CARSON CITY -- A Korean couple who accused singer Celine Dion's husband of rape have received good news: Two extortion charges on which they were convicted have been thrown out by the Nevada Supreme Court.

It wasn't clear Monday whether Yung Kyeoung Sung and Ae Hoe Kwon will be released from prison as a result of the court's 7-0 decision, or if the Clark County district attorney's office will refile the charges.

Justices, in a decision released Friday, rejected the convictions because the couple were not allowed to present "truth as a defense" -- evidence of rape -- to the charges during separate trials in 2005.

But the justices upheld the couple's convictions for soliciting for a bribe.

Justices ruled that the prosecution should not have been able to argue that "the truth or falsity of the statements attributed to Sung and Kwon supporting the extortion counts was irrelevant."

At Kwon's trial, District Judge Jackie Glass ruled she could not compel Dion's husband, Rene Angelil, to testify because a subpoena wasn't served properly. Defense attorneys wanted him to testify about the rape allegations. Kwon's lawyers complained Angelil was given special treatment from the beginning. He did not attend the trial.

Sung received a sentence of up to six years in prison for the three charges, while Kwon received a nine-year term.

In sentencing Sung, Glass said the woman's actions were "all about greed."

Phone calls to the district attorney's office seeking comment were not returned Monday afternoon. An attorney for the couple did not return a call.

Sung had been paid $2 million by Angelil to keep quiet about allegations that he raped her in 2000.

Initially, she said Angelil followed her to a hotel room at the Imperial Palace, but that he only fondled her and she did not report the incident to police.

Nonetheless, in a confidential agreement, Angelil made the $2 million payment without admitting any wrongdoing.

But in 2002, Sung and Kwon through their lawyers sought an additional $20 million. The couple also filed a police report and a civil lawsuit against Angelil, making the rape accusations public.

The Metropolitan Police Department opened a sex assault investigation, but it was shut down after Sung and Kwon did not produce a dress that they said had Angelil's DNA on it. They did turn over a towel and other items that they said had Angelil's semen on them.

After an undercover agent posed in 2003 as Angelil's business partner and attended a videotaped meeting at which Sung and Kwon threatened to go to the media if they weren't paid, police filed charges.

About the same time, some news media reported that Sung had a gambling problem and had spent all of the money given her by Angelil and still owed $950,000 in unpaid markers.

Kwon, a Presbyterian minister, said at his trial that he only wanted an apology, but was accused by prosecutors of being a chronic liar.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or (775) 687-3901.