Couple jailed in Angelil extortion case

Jen Lawson

Monday, Jan. 20, 2003 | 9:32 a.m.

A California couple were in the Clark County jail Friday on charges that they tried to extort $13.5 million from the husband of singer Celine Dion.

Metro Police on Thursday arrested Yun Kyeong Kwon Sung, 46, and Ae Hoe Kwon, 50, during a meeting between the couples' attorney and an attorney representing Dion's husband, Rene Angelil. The meeting was to discuss a sexual assault complaint Sung filed against Angelil in March 2002, Capt. Tom Lozich said.

Kwon Sung was also booked on theft warrants.

Each of the Kwons is charged with extortion and witness solicitation of a bribe, which are felonies, and conspiracy to commit extortion, a misdemeanor.

Lozich was tight-lipped about the extortion investigation and subsequent arrest.

"The extortion was concerning additional evidence she was going to bring forward about the sexual assault," Lozich said Friday.

Metro is turning the case over to the district attorney's office.

Sung alleges that in March 2000, she met Angelil at Caesars Palace and he followed her to the Imperial Palace, fondled her in an elevator, followed her into her room, locked the door and sexually assaulted her.

She filed a civil lawsuit against Angelil accusing him of rape, but the lawsuit was put on hold last year after a judge ordered them into binding arbitration.

Sung filed a rape report with Metro four days after filing the civil suit against Angelil.

Lt. Jeff Carlson of Metro's sexual assault section said Friday that the rape case investigation is ongoing, and detectives are awaiting lab results.

A trial on theft charges is also pending against Sung. She pleaded not guilty July 25 to charges that she failed to repay Harrah's casino markers worth more than $500,000.

She had reached an agreement with prosecutors that would have dismissed the charges if she started to make restitution by July 9, but she failed to do so.