Young Lee | |
---|---|
Born |
Young Lee September 6, 1964 |
Nationality | American |
Education | Parsons School of Design |
Known for | Co-founder of Pinkberry |
Criminal charge | Assault with a deadly weapon |
Criminal penalty | 7 years without parole |
Criminal status | Incarcerated |
Conviction(s) | November 8, 2013 (pleaded not guilty) |
Young Lee (born 6 September 1964) is a California convicted felon and businessman who was the co-founder of Pinkberry, a chain of frozen yogurt stores. He left the company in 2010.
Lee studied interior design at Parsons School of Design, and claims to have worked for some time as a club bouncer.
In Fast Company he cited his design influences for branding Pinkberry as the mom-and-pop yogurterias of Italy.
In 2001, Lee was sentenced to two days in jail and three years' probation for "felony possession of cocaine and two misdemeanor counts of battery of a spouse,... and carrying a loaded firearm".
In January 2012, Lee was arrested on an outstanding warrant for assault with a deadly weapon, issued in June 2011 after he beat a homeless man with a tire iron. Lee was on a flight inbound from Korea when the LAPD was notified by a federal database. Prosecutors said Lee and another man chased the homeless man and "beat him down" with the tire iron because while at a traffic stop the transient approached Lee's car and showed Lee and his fiancee his sexually explicit tattoo which they found offensive. LAPD officials said that Lee demanded that the man kneel and apologize, the man consented, but Lee attacked him anyway, chasing him down, kicking him and "beating him down" with a tire iron. Lee's lawyer gave a different account of the incident describing the homeless man as threatening Lee and the passengers in his car. On November 8, 2013 Lee was found guilty. On March 14, 2014, Lee was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, the maximum sentence.