Angel sculptures in Shinan County, South Jeolla, supplied by a fraud artist Choi Yeong-cheol, otherwise known as Paulo Choi [SHINAN COUNTY]
A sculptor who fabricated an illustrious international career to secure billions of won in public art contracts from local governments has been sentenced to prison on appeal.
The Daegu High Court's Criminal Division sentenced Paulo Choi, whose legal name is Choi Yeong-cheol, to three years in prison on Thursday, overturning a lower court ruling that had handed him a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence for fraud. The court ordered his immediate detention in the courtroom, citing a risk of flight.
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Choi had claimed to be a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and an honorary professor at the Paris Diderot University, which prosecutors found were false.
