The special counsel team investigating former first lady Kim Keon-hee is seeking an eight-year prison sentence for her close aide Kim Ye-seong, who is currently facing embezzlement charges. 

The team said Monday that it asked the Seoul Central District Court to punish the aide, often called the “butler” of the former first lady’s family, with eight years and a fine of some 430 million won, or roughly 290-thousand U.S. dollars. 

In making the request, the team said Kim Ye-seong has denied the allegations against him and that he used criminal proceeds to acquire real estate and stocks worth some three billion won. 

Kim Ye-seong’s lawyer argued that the special team should drop the charges, as the embezzlement case against him has nothing to do with the former first lady and thus falls outside the scope of the team’s investigation. 

The case, termed “butler gate” in the media, focuses on allegations that rental car company IMS Mobility, which Kim Ye-seong co-founded and partly owned, improperly received 18-point-four billion won in investment from major firms through a private equity fund, with some of the money funneled through a shell company tied to his wife.

Kim Ye-seong and IMS CEO Jo Young-tak were indicted in August of last year and accused of embezzling some two-point-four billion won.