While the internet thought it would have some peace and quiet from the streamer for the time being, he has now resurfaced from prison.
After a court verdict was handed down in the case involving Johnny Somali, and with it potentially taking up to six months for his appeal request to be granted, it seemed reasonable to assume that things would quiet down for a while around the problematic streamer, who is now serving six months in a South Korean detention facility – but that does not really appear to be the case.
Johnny Somali Shows Little Remorse Despite Conviction
A few days ago, a letter was published that Somali had written to an alleged fan. Though barely a page long, it speaks volumes about the fact that the streamer still shows no real remorse.
Somali is in prison for numerous offenses: desecrating a memorial dedicated to sexually exploited women during the Korean War, spreading North Korean propaganda, and sexually harassing minors are only some of them.
The internet was correspondingly outraged when, instead of a real example being made of the U.S. streamer, whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael, he received a relatively light sentence of just six months and five years of registration as a sex offender. While there is hope that his appeal request may ultimately backfire on him, the situation still seems far removed from one in which Somali might draw any lessons from his actions.
Instead, a letter that an alleged Somali fan named Lee Han-Ul published online shows that he is already planning his next steps.
The Truth Between The Lines
At the start of the letter, he talks about how funny prison is for him right now, says he feels fit, and claims he gets along well with his fellow inmates. He also writes that he would welcome it if the recipient and other fans transferred money to his prison account – a bank account that inmates in South Korea are allowed to have during their prison stay so that friends and family can send them money.
According to Somali himself, he wants to use this money to buy books and materials he needs to prepare for his CFA test. This refers to the Chartered Financial Analyst exam, as the convicted criminal is apparently already planning to try his hand as a stockbroker after his release.
Critics, however, have doubts about this story. On the one hand, they assume Somali is only pretending that things are going well for him in the South Korean prison, lying both to the recipient of the letter and to himself so he does not have to engage in self-reflection. On the other hand, they are also convinced that he never seriously intends to enter the stock market business.
Observers of the Somali situation are more inclined to believe that he only wants to acquire this knowledge and the corresponding certificates in order to finance his chaotic stunts and scam fans as well as other innocent people online.
Until then, however, Somali will first be spending six months in prison, and whether he will really be able to take any tests during that time remains to be seen.